For the naked eye a butterfly (Vanessa cardui, left column images) and a semiconductor wafer employed at a Lund NanoLab (right column images) has nothing in common, but by using SEM we can uncover hidden structures, which are similar one to another. I have acquired butterfly eye images (left column images) as part of my internship at SUNY Polytechnic Institute (Albany, NY, USA), when I was involved in a local outreach program. The butterfly was a kind donation by the Museum of Innovation and Science (Schenectady, NY, USA). The images on the right column (from the top to the bottom) are silicon wafer; GaP nanowires used in Nanosafety research; InP nanowires and their pattern used in solar cell research development. SEM images are artificially colored using Photoshop.

By Laura Abariute from Solid State Physics