To See the World in a Grain of Sand

Grains of sand when magnified 100 to 300 times Photographer, inventor, and scientist Dr. Gary Greenberg has devoted his life to revealing the secret beauty of nature. Beginning his career as a photographer and filmmaker, he worked on the first Superman film where he transformed human pancreatic cancer cells into the planet "Kyrpton." After earning a Ph.D. in biomedical research, he went on to invent high-definition, three-dimensional light microscopes, for which he was issued eighteen US patents. When Dr. Greenberg turned his microscope on beach sand, gemlike minerals, colorful coral fragments, and delicate microscopic shells emerged, revealing that sand comprises much more than the little brown rocks we see with the naked eye. Looking at sand under extreme magnification, we quickly find ourselves immersed in a new world of brilliant colors, organic shapes, and stunning patterns of nature. Greenberg took these pictures “to show people how ordinary things are truly extraordinary when you look from a new point of view.” (And isn't most everything extraordinary, when we look at it from a new point of view?)

"Every grain of sand is a jewel." Imagine if we walked the Earth with this very thought: every grain of sand is a jewel; how each step could become a blessing of love and admiration for All That Is beneath our feet. You can further enjoy Dr. Greenberg's magnified sand grains from around the world in this three minute (silent) video on YouTube.