These images are cross-section views of the flagella of the algae chlamydomonas. These are magnified by an electron microscope 120,000 times. They have a remarkable similarity to the 9-pointed star symbolic of the Bahá'í Faith, and further the tip of each star appears like the Arabic letter há, familiar to Bahá'ís from the ringstone symbol.
For more information on this algae, see the Chlamydomonas Genetics Center. For an article with a discussion of the flagelle, see www.jyi.org/issues/currentIssue/features/tang.html. For a scientific graphic of this cross-section, which helps explain the star-like and há-like formations, see www.nibb.ac.jp/~cellcomm/kenkyu1.html .
Finally, this entire article can be downloaded as a PDF (2.9MB), scanned by Jeanine Gunasekaran.
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