Imagine how an ant would look like after being magnified many times. You may not even recognize it as an ant. Australia Post, the authority responsible for the release of stamps in Australia, has done just that. Familiar everyday insects have been magnified many times and they appear in a new light in a series of stamps that has been released. The series is titled 'Micro Monsters'.

The series has been described as a fascinating issue that reveals a wonderful microscopic world most of us never have a chance to see. The stamps feature an Ant, a Jumping Spider, a Weevil, a Hatchet Wasp, a Ground Beetle and a Dead Leaf Mimic Mantis also known as Praying Mantis (a grasshopper like insect).

The process of designing these stamps using technology is in itself an interesting story. The tiny insects have been photographed by a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Then they become fantastically monster-like in appearance, creating a quite different and wonderfully unique experience of these
relatively common creatures.

What exactly is SEM?

The SEM allows magnification of remarkable strength – well over one million times. The technology had been invented by a German, Dr. Ernst Ruska at the University of Berlin, way back in 1931, when he built the first transmission electron microscope.

However, it has not been commercially available until the 1960s. It is not only a crucial research tool in many areas of science but has changed the way we see the world.

By enabling us to view any specimen at such magnification the SEM reveals the beauty and complexity of microstructure in amazing clarity, the stamp bulletin explains.

Once the enlarged pictures were available, there was yet another problem in designing the rather unusual stamps. SEM images are only available in black and white.

In order to make the stamps attractive they had to be coloured. It was a subtle task which was expertly handled by a designer named Wayne Rankin who had designed many stamps for Australia Post including the popular Nature of Australia series.

Incidentally, the inventor of the technology, Dr. Ruska was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1986 for his initial and subsequent work on the subject. As for the word 'microscope', it is derived from the Greek 'mikros' (small) and 'skopeo' (look at).

There has always been an interest in being able to look at smaller and smaller details, for example, biologists examine the structure of cells, bacteria, viruses while geologists study the structure of rocks, minerals and fossils.

Australia Post has offered stamp collectors a variety of items along with the Micro Monsters stamps. These items have also been designed with a lot of thought and creativity using illustrations related to the subject.

The Miniature Sheet shows a detail of a Common Cabbage White Butterfly's wing. A limited edition stamp and medallion cover, roll of 100 stamps, stamp packs and maxi cards were also made available.