Tiny radiolarians by the name of Sticholonche zanclea have complex exoskeletons built from silica or strontium sulfate and can take on a myriad of strange forms. Dead radiolarians sink to the bottom ...

On the coast of Sicily, a man sits hunched over a microscope peering at what look to be grains of sand. It's the late 1870s, and these specimens are mineral-shelled protozoans called radiolarians ...

After completing his studies in medicine and biology, Prussian naturalist Ernst Haeckel set off for Italy in 1859, where, in addition to painting landscapes, he spent the climactic months of his stay ...