2020 Small World in Motion Competition

Ralph Grimm, a prolific photomicrographer from Australia, has been in the Small World winners circle an impressive 16 times dating all the way back to 2005. His most recent entry, a differential interference contrast (DIC) movie of the ciliate Prorodon viridis showing beating cilia and green zoochlorellae perfectly demonstrates his imaging skills. DIC is a commonly used illumination technique to observe creatures such as this, but it can be immensely challenging to keep sharpness, focus and proper framing for the duration of a movie of such animals. This particular creature uses algal “solar” cells from which it derives part of its energy (long before man came up with the idea).