Ivan Amato

Anti-Pain Peninsula. I recrystallized a combo of ibuprofen, acetaminophen and oxycodone on a glass slide. Here is one of the striking formatIons I saw under my microscope. It's about the size of a mosquito's wing.

I recrystallized urea, the primary metabolic waste product in urine, together with glycine, an amino acid originally isolated from gelatin, onto a microscope slide. Here’s one of the formations I saw. It would fit inside the O on your keyboard. I see a tinge of Shroud of Turin in there.

The magnificent moon tonight through a Celestron telescope and an iphone on the eyepiece. These pix were taken at about 10 AM, a few hours before the 100% full Hunter's Moon.

Headshine. Alanine and glycine, two of the amino acids in the turkey protein you likely will be overeating in a month, deliver an astounding variety of forms when they recrystallize on glass microscope slides. The area you see could fit on the stem-contact point of a cranberry.

I dissolved stevia (a plant-based sweetener), urea (a fertilizer and cell metabolite), and Vitamin C in a water/ethanol solution. It took some finessing, but I finally got the chemicals to recrystallize on a microscope slide. This triangular formation is the size of a freckle.

Autumnal Sucrose. The luscious Licor 43 is rife with botanicals and sugar, aka sucrose, aka C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁. On a microscope slide, that sucrose crystallized into poppyseed-sized formations that emulate the gracefully falling leaves outside my window. #sciart

The Sun Vitamin. By which I mean Vitamin C, aka ascorbic acid, which often displays in sunlike formations when I recrystallize it from a solution onto a microscope slide. On the slide, this portion of a larger radiant crystal would fit well on a sky the size of a postage stamp.

Just one more microscopic manifestation of the Mysterium Tremendum. Twenty atoms: six carbons, eight hydrogens, and six oxygens. In a specific 3D geometry we call ascorbic acid, aka Vitamin C. I grew Vitamin C crystals on glass slide. This patch would inside this O.

Vitamin C goes Triangular. I recrystallized ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) from a Mezcal (read: alcohol) solution on a glass slide. This formation, the size of a hot pepper flake, is rife with structure, including the jewel-like hub and many concentric layers of ultrathin crystal layers.

Vitamin C Sunrise. Carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms. Hewn in stars billions of years ago, these workhorse atoms reassemble into the stuff of life, including the 20-atom ascorbic acid molecules that recrystallized here on a glass slide into stunning lentil-sized solar formations like this one.

Crystal WOW! Taurine and glutamine are amino acids that your body makes. Here I recrystallize the two amino acids on a glass slide. This kapow! formation, the size of an asterisk, was one of the resulting crystalline sculptures I saw through my microscope.

I encouraged the contents of several drops of "43" – a to-die-for liquor made with 43 botanicals and a lot of sweetness (sucrose) – to crystallize out from its original ethanol solution onto a glass slide. Here's one of the resulting crystal sculptures, small enough to within a peppercorn.

I recrystallized the combo Stevia (a sweetener), urea (a cell metabolite) and Vitamin C from a solution onto a microscope slide. Below is one of the formations, each the size of a freckle, that formed on the slide. The angles and branchings reflect the molecules' shapes and other chem properties.

MicroMeteor Shower. I dissolved urea and glycine in water and allowed the chemicals to recrystallize on a glass microscope slide. Here is just one of the kinetic microscapes that formed, this one spanning the area of a lentil. Optical filters help bring out details and colors.

Road trip! I would like to go to Cartagena, Spain where Licor 43, a crazy-delicious concoction of 43 botanicals and lot of sweetness. I put some drops onto a microscope slide and just let it sit for days. Here's one of the Licor 43 crystal formations I saw through my microscope.

Another looker from my experiment recrystallizing Licor 43, a delicious liquor made with 43 botanicals and lots of sweetness. It's that sucrose that accounts for these crystalline formations, which grew on my microscope slide. These sugar micro-flowers would fit inside of a peppercorn.

Licor 43 is a fab liquor made with 43 botanicals and plenty of sweetness. It's that sucrose sugar that probably accounts for most of the crystalline formations that grew on a microscope slide over several days after I painted it with some 43. This sugar micro-flower would fit on a ladybug's belly.

Another dancing figure from my recent recrystallization of the taurine/glycine/urea trio of chemicals. This dancer is wearing a "fabric" with molecular layers that trick incoming light into beaming back out with this splash of chromatic vibrance. This dancer would fit in small drop of water.

A Chorus Line. I dissolved urea & the amino acids glycine and taurine in H2O & ainted the resulting solution onto a glass slide. In a spot the size of a cheerio hole, I saw this lineup of tiny crystalline dancers, their costumes made of molecular layers that play with light the way soap bubbles do.

Bleeding Edge. Another photomicrograph from my recent recrystallization experiments with the combo of alanine, a building block of our proteins, and urea, a molecular waste product from cellular metabolism that finds its way out of us via urine. The scene here would fit inside a Cheerio hole.

More from my recent urea/glycine series. These are images of lentil-sized areas of a glass microscope slide on which I had recrystallized the combination of glycine (an amino acid) and urea (a cellular waste chemical and a globally important fertilizer) from a solution.

Crystalline Nubulae. I dissolved urea (a waste chemical in cells and a major fertilizer) and glycine (an amino acid) in water and allowed the chemicals to recrystallize on a microscope slide. Here is just one of the space-cloud-like microscapes that formed, this one spanning the area of a lentil.

Double Dolce. Table sugar, sucrose, also specified chemically as C12H22O11, delivers one of life's beloved gustatory pleasures. This duet of tiny sucrose crystals would fit inside this printed O.

Just out. My latest for Photonics Focus: A Brightness Like No Other. An article about the uber-brilliant electromagnetic death throes of a star that died two billion years ago and how our orbiting sensors captured the ancient light show. Have a read! spie.org/news/photoni...

Crystal Glyph. I am learning about Mayan glyphs for a novel I am trying to write. Sometimes I see the equivalent of glyphs in the crystals I grow on glass slides. This microglyph solidified from a solution of amino acids. The area you see here might fit on a cross-section of a peppercorn.

Big shoulder with clown hair? Or really just some ascorbic acid, aka Vitamin C, recrystallized on a glass slide and photographed through a microscope. Kinda love the iridescent effect of this one. This formation would maybe fit in the valley of this letter U.

From Columbia, South Carolina, on August 21, 2017. A fine fine moment with my good friend David Voss who took this "diamond ring" photo as we and hundreds of others shared a moment of Totality awe.

Three Aminos. I dissolved three amino acids – alanine, glutamine and taurine – in grain alcohol and then allowed these protein building blocks to recrystallize on a microscope slide. They went all gorgeous on me. The scene here would fit on dragonfly's nose. Click on the image for a larger format.

A video experiment with my crystal imagery along with some original music inspired by Philip Glass.

Crystal Garden. On a microscope slide I recrystallized a combo of alanine and glutamine. These are two of the 20 amino acids that into the proteins that make life possible. The actual area shown here could fit on a bell pepper seed.

For Thirsty Eyes. When I let a few drops from an expired bottle of eye-drop lubricant recrystallize on a microscope slide, the dissolved substances in the medicine solidified into arresting forms. The scene here is about the size of a fly's eye.

Ahh Vanill-ahh! I recrystallized onto a glass slide the primary flavor note of vanilla, aka vanillin, aka C8H8O3. This most welcome chemical was first isolated and crystallized by the French biochemist Nicolas-Theodore Gobley in 1858. The actual area of the image is the size of a bumblebee's eye

Analgesia. The combo of acetaminophen and codeine can ease pain. This is what those medicinal ingredients look like when they are dissolved in an ethanol solution and recrystallized onto a microscope slide. The area shown here might fit onto a speck of glitter.

A detail from today's roiling summer-dome sun. Just kidding. This is a detail from a microscope slide on which I recrystallized the combination of the amino acid alanine (a molecular component of protein) and stevia (a sweetener). The actual area depicted here is smaller than a match head.

Conjuring a microBird. A solution of the amino acid taurine (in your Red Bull drink) and urea (in your urine) recrystallized onto my microscope slide. I was astonished to see a tiny crystalline bird looking right back at me with a tad of disdain. The bird would just about fit inside this printed p.

Table Sugar, a still life. I recrystallized sucrose from a solution in grain alcohol. It took days for the crystals to form on my glass slide. I spied these two formations, which reminded me of a long married couple. Go figure. This couple would fit between a honeybee's shoulders.

Hey, sugar. I took you, just as you are, from the first pressing of your cane home and still holding hints of molasses, dissolved you in intoxicating DIY (75% alcohol), and let you ripen on a glass slide into sweet crystalline micro-sculptures, each right-sized if you were a hard candy for a bee.

I had forgotten that I submitted a photomicrograph of the soluble and recrystallized components of an opioid pill to Pulse, an online medical, health and healing venue. To my delight, yesterday the editors posted the image and a deep caption explaining it. pulsevoices.org/visuals/opio...

Cold Sun. This, from the archives, makes me think of a star with its broadcast of heat and light dialed down, a fantasy in heat-wave times like these. The image shows a recrystallization on a microscope slide of the amino acid, alanine. The area depicted would fit on the head of a match.

Sweet and Sour. Vitamin C and the sugar substitute stevia, recrystallized from a solution onto a glass slide into minuscule yet jaw-dropping formations, like this one. It would fit inside of a Cheerio's hole. As always, all of the crystal photomicrographs that I post could be hanging on your wall.

Steve and Alan. A combo of the sweetener stevia and the amino acid alanine recrystallized from on my microscope slide from an ethanol solution into organic, kelpy formations. Here is one that grabbed my eyeballs. The area here might fit inside this printed O.

Double T: T and T for the amino acids threonine and taurine, the latter of which was first found in the bile of a bull and gives Red Bull some of its pep. I recrystallized this duo onto a microscope slide and this formation caught my eye. The area shown would fit in a Cheerio hole.

Conjuring a Canopy. An experiment in recrystallizing salicylic acid (C₇H₆O₃), a staple for wart medicine and a chemical precursor to aspirin, yielded a variety of formations on my microscope slide, including this one. The area shown would fit inside the hole of a Cheerio.

Dear Friends, here is something for you to know ... The Golden Hour art exhibit: June 4 - July 24, 2026, South Orange, NJ An eclectic mix of paintings and photography by local artists. ALL WORKS OF ART IN THE EXHIBIT, INCLUDING MINE, ARE FOR SALE! www.creativeincommon.org/gallery

Relax! Cylcobenzaprine–a wingnut-shaped molecule with the formula C20H21N–was first studied as an antidepressant, but now is mostly prescribed as a muscle relaxant. I recrystallized the water-soluble components of a cyclobenzaprine pill onto a glass slide. This formation is the size of a fly's eye.

Vanilla Gone Spectral. I recrystallized vanillin, the primary flavor chemical in the celebrity flavor vanilla, in Mezcal. Here's a snapshot of one of the formations that solidified onto my microscope slide. This crevasse-like formation would fit in a needle's eye, just about.

Come hither. The amino acid and protein building block, alanine, and citric acid, a sour-adding kitchen denizen and a essential player in your cells, recrystallized from a solution onto a microscope slide. This formation, the size of a snowflake, seemed to beckon me into its crystalline microscape.

Geometry Worship. C3H7NO2, 13 atoms in a configuration known as alanine. C6H8O6, 20 atoms in a configuration know as citric acid. Here, I recrystallized this duo of compounds on a glass slide and took this picture through a microscope. The formation is the size of a typical snowflake.

Whirlihoo. Chemicals really do the darnedest things. LIke this. I dissolved two amino acids, alanine and glutamine, into a sub-shot of Mezcal and then recrystallized the solutes onto a microscope slide. Here's one of the microscapes I saw on the slide. It's smaller than an appleseed.

My Facetation With The World. Here's another visage from a glass microscope slide onto which I crystallized a combo of the amino acid alanine and the sweetener stevia that I had dissolved in grain alcohol. The area seen here would fit readily on a canvas that would fit inside this letter O.