Ever since George de Mestral invented Velcro in 1948, the hook-and-loop fastening system has been in constant use. It's easy to use, it doesn't pose any danger to the user, it's relatively maintenance free, and best of all, it has a long lifespan. (I have some clothes and what-not that have Velcro patches which date back from the early 90s and they still have a lot of hooking power; I'm sure many of you folks do, too.) But such a very useful invention is easy to take for granted. Perhaps looking at Velcro in different light would make you appreciate it even more.

Trazy Anderson's amazing photo (taken with a Nikon SMZ1500 Stereomicroscope) of a Velcro patch at 94x magnification might just do the trick. If you remember in 'Men In Black', Velcro was supposedly alien technology confiscated by the MIB and adapted for use on Earth. Now I know where that idea came from.

Just so you know, this awesome photo placed in the top 30 at the Nikon Small World 2005.