As researchers in paleolimnology, the historical study of freshwater sediments, we examine the sediments that settles at the ...

The radiating, kaleidoscopic pattern you see here was once the living glass skeleton – the cell wall – of a single-celled organism called a diatom. These organisms absorb silicon from their ...

One group of microbes that preserve very well in lake sediments is the diatoms. These single-celled algae have delicately ornamented cell walls, of which each species is characterized by its ...

Diatoms are microscopic single-celled organisms that live in water and possess a cell wall made of silica (silicon dioxide). Thanks to its porous structure, it can absorb a wide variety of pollutants.