CAN water fleas juggle? If they are part of Stephen Lowry鈥檚 flea circus they can do almost anything. Lowry, a research fellow at the University of Ulster鈥檚 school of applied biological and chemical sciences, won fourth prize in the Nikon International Small World Competition with his montage of the water flea Daphnia juggling with planktonic plants (Volvox).
Lowry built up his montage with an Adobe Photoshop software package that allows digital manipulation of the microscopic images. 鈥淚 added colours and rescaled the images,鈥� he says. Lowry is now looking for new recruits to his microscopic circus. 鈥淚鈥檝e already done a giant cat flea with a miniature cat on its back,鈥� he says.