At Home with ‘Aliens’
Up close with bugs who live with us
You don’t have to go to a faraway planet to see weird life forms like this. They’re all around you at home.
Using a high-powered scanning electron microscope, scientists have been exploring the “deep space” of the tiny living creatures all around us.
The images are spectacular. Best of all, perhaps, is the maggot (photo above), the larval stage of a bluebottle fly. Contrary to their fearsome reputation, maggots are very helpful animals. Doctors in war zones have routinely used them to help clean the wounds of wounded soldiers.