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On 3D not-pollen
It's crazy to me, but apparently some scientists are less interested in pollen than they frankly ought to be. Even though pollen is, objectively, the best microscopic biological thing, I fairly often get asked about the prospects of 3D-scanning or -printing other things like it. My standard response is to reiterate that pollen is a better and more worthy focus, but for some strange reason it hasn't yet changed many minds or career trajectories.
So, while I work on my persuasion skills, as part of an ongoing update to the 3D Pollen Project website I've put together a new page on 3D-printable things that are like pollen, but not pollen. More specifically, I've tried to round up links to existing resources that are similar to the 3D Pollen Project but which focus on other (generally) microscopic and biological samples. (I don't think a similar list existed before.) Every time I unearthed new things I was astonished and delighted by how much was available: you can find links to 3D models of thousands of phytoliths and several hundred foraminifera, as well as coccoliths, diatoms, dinoflagellates, ostracods, pteropods, radiolaria, tephra, testate amoebae, and zooplankton!
I've also written down some thoughts and key principles for the production of 3D data from these kinds of samples, so that you can start to work out whether and how you could go about making a 3D Not-Pollen Project of your own. It's essentially all the general information you'd get if you emailed me to ask how to apply the 3D Pollen Project methods to a microfossil of your own choosing! You can access the page here.
As ever, if there's anything that needs clarification or if you'd appreciate a more detailed conversation, feel free to get in touch, though my expertise lies entirely with pollen (because, again, it is the best). I'd also welcome any suggestions for similar resources that I've missed off the list.
I hope it's useful, even if it isn't pollen!
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