Amphora
Diatomists (people who classify and study diatoms) may be the most dedicated
of all scientists. I know diatomists who have spent half their lives peering
at diatoms through the two oculars of a biological microscope. Why are diatoms
so fascinating?, so captivating?
For one thing, diatoms are beautiful. Their lacy, opaline valves are glassy
and transparent under the microscope. They have riibs, radiating lines,
spines, and countless pores, all organized in intricate geometric patterns
of almost infinite variety.
As humans, we tend to believe that we are the most advanced of the life
forms. How could a one-celled upstart, and a plant at that, be more advanced
than we? However, in terms of the quality of inheritance (DNA), we may be
no match for diatoms. There is scarecely a pond or stream where some species
of diatom has not been pefectly tailored to sieze upon and exploit some
small difference in the environment. Maybe its dangerous to look down the
tube of a binocular microscope for more than a few hours. Maybe those biologists
and geologists who lingered too long were unwittingly captured, not by beauty,
but by superior DNA.