Dr Gary Greenberg is a scientist, author, teacher and photographer who combines his passion for art and science by exploring the hidden small-scale dimensions of nature. Gary has invented multiple high-definition, three-dimensional light microscopes (for which he has multiple US patents) and nowadays focuses his microscopes on common objects, such as grains of sand, flowers, and food. He's looked at sand from all round the Earth, but the funkiest sand he has examined is from the Moon. He's hoping he can get some Mars sand! You can identify a beach (or heavenly body) from its sand, which depends on the temperature, surf and erosion conditions and marine environment. 

You can see Gary's sand photography for yourself at sandgrains.com. And you might like to do some searching for the in vitro human pancreatic cancer cells he turned into the planet Kyrpton in the first Superman movie - the nuclei of the cells look like impact craters!

Songs in this episode - all licensed under a Creative Commons License:

• Sand - Viasol

 The image is from sandgrains.com and is of sand from Maui.