MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON, TWO

A Glance at Daily Life Among the Caretakers of Britain’s Small Islands At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, with travel restrictions in place worldwide, we launched a new series — The World Through a Lens — in which photojournalists help transport you, virtually, to some of our planet’s most beautiful and intriguing places. This week, Alex Ingram shares a collection of images from small British islands. The waters surrounding Britain are speckled with thousands of small islands, only a small fraction of which are inhabited, some by as few as one or two people. Among those who call Britain’s small islands home are a collection of wardens — caretakers who spend their lives in quiet solitude, away from the crowded corners of our urban world. Often employed by nonprofit conservation groups, their role is to maintain and manage the preservation of their small speck of land — its natural beauty, its wildlife — for future generations, often while conducting research into delicate ecosystems. 1 Square Mile • Population: 2

Friday Fun Archive Students worked hard all week? Do they deserve a special reward for a job well done? The lesson and project ideas below are meant to fill the bill for Friday afternoon fun and learning. Some are simple games or activities that will reinforce skills as they offer a nice break from structured learning. Others are project ideas to be completed over multiple Friday afternoons. Adorable "Leaf Sheep" Sea Slugs click 2x If you thought last week's sea bunnies were cute, here's one more underwater treasure that will make you say “aww!” Costasiella kuroshimae (also referred to as “leaf sheep” and “Shaun the sheep”) is a species of sacoglossan sea slug whose beady eyes and flat face make it look like an adorable cartoon sheep. Add some droopy feelers and a phosphorescent, leaf-like body, and this little darling may just be the loveliest slug in the ocean! Costasiella kuroshimae, which can grow up to 5 millimeters in length, can be found near Japan, Indonesia, and the Philippines. They graze on green algae, and use the chloroplasts from their food to manufacture their own energy in a process called kleptoplasty. One of the only non-plant organisms in the world that can perform photosynthesis, leaf sheep can survive up to a few months on the energy produced from kleptoplasty.

Behold Sparklemuffin and Skeletorus, New Peacock Spiders click 2x If you don't think of spiders as cute and cuddly, then you’ve never met Sparklemuffin, Skeletorus, and the elephant spider. Scientists have identified these three new species of peacock spiders in various parts of eastern Australia. Less than a quarter-inch long (five millimeters), male peacock spiders are known for their bright colors and a rolling-shaking mating dance that would make Miley Cyrus jealous. These new spiders are spectacular. It’s a mind-blowing find. Damian Elias, Arachnologist, University of California, Berkeley

Different Types of Hummingbirds - Hummingbirds Plus Different Species of Hummingbirds – An informational resource for learning about the different breeds of hummingbirds. Hummingbirds are among the smallest types of birds and can only be found naturally in the Americas. Hummingbirds are so small that its smallest species weighs less than a penny.

Forced Perspective Photography Transforms Action Figures Into Life-Sized Anything is possible through photography. While we’ve often admired the incredible photo manipulations created in programs like Photoshop, editing on the computer isn’t the only way to produce fantastical images. Using tricks like forced perspective can make things magically change in scale, transforming them into seemingly much larger or smaller versions of themselves. Wire Hon shows just how effective this technique can be with his forced perspective photography of action figures. Hon, a Malaysian toy collector, has cast various DC and Marvel superheroes to appear in his portraits.

Miniature Sculptures Play on Workplace Humor and Struggles This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase, My Modern Met may earn an affiliate commission. Please read our disclosure for more info. Finding the humor in everyday office struggles, Derrick Lin started creating miniature vignettes as a way to visually express his frustrations. Using everyday materials, he shoots everything with his iPhone and publishes these relatable scenes to Instagram. Now, a good portion of his work has been put together in his forthcoming book, Work, Figuratively Speaking. Most Amazing Miniature Food Artworks by Shay Aaron Shay Aaron is a brilliant artist from Israel who makes the most astonishing miniature food jewelry. These foodstuffs look so beautiful that we would desire to eat them. Actually, there’s a whole market out there for miniature food.

Macro Photography Reveals Water Droplets as Miniature Works of Art click 2x Macro photography is more than just close-up images—the technique offers a new perspective on the world, revealing the tiny and often overlooked details of the photographer's subject. Canadian photographer Don Komarechka explores nature through his macro camera lens, revealing water droplets as miniature works of art. “All of these images are like little sculptures,” Komarechka tells My Modern Met. “Very temporary, and only become beautiful when seen from the right perspective.”

Delightful Miniature Dioramas Created New Every Day by Tanaka Tatsuya For the past four years, artist Tanaka Tatsuya has used everyday objects and miniatures to create dioramas. Fruits, vegetables, electronics, coat hangers, straws, and much more are featured in the delightful compositions that depict action-packed scenes using tiny figures. Since it's a daily activity, he's titled the project Miniature Calendar and includes the date on each image.

This Photographer Made a 3D-Printed Miniature of Himself for Tiny Scenes Photographer Mathieu Stern came up with an interesting way to combine macro photography and “self” portraiture: he had a miniature version of himself made through 3D scanning and printing. Stern visited the Paris-based Digitage, which does 3D scanning of bodies and faces, and posed with his camera in front of a large room-sized array of DSLRs that photographed him from every 360 degrees. A minute later, a 3D rendering of himself showed up on a computer screen. And weeks later, a tiny realistic figurine of Stern arrived in the mail. Stern then took the figurine out into the world and used it to pose inside his own small scale photos.