Tomas Rico, a history student at UC Davis in California became interested in microscopy after a lecture on soil science. The 22-year-old first started filming interesting samples under a microscope on a desk in his home studio. He now shares the videos of his microscopic explorations on the social media apps TikTok and Instagram, where he regularly posts to a combined following of almost 250,000 followers. The hypnotic footage shows Tomas' friend’s blood, ramshorn snails, water extracts from a pond and a bucket and even some of Tomas’s own tooth plaque. Footage also shows Tomas using two sheets of polarised film to observe the muscles inside mosquito larvae and the reaction between 91% isopropyl alcohol and pond water, which caused dissolved gasses to swirl around in mesmerising patterns. By using everyday language and interesting video footage, Tomas is making the mind-bending ecology of the microscopic world accessible to people from a range of backgrounds. He said: “Before I started posting, I assumed that only a few biology enthusiasts or students might enjoy learning about the microcosmos. “Most people are not reading microbiology textbooks or taking classes on the physics of light. “Information about microscopy is often held behind expensive classes, equipment, and confusing technical language. Compilation video