Lichtgedanken 03

S C HW E R P U N K T 73 03 | LICHT GEDANKEN Foraminifera from sediment samples that Alivernini and his colleagues collected in the heavily contamina- ted region around Accra. The shells of the single-cell marine organisms are severely deformed. Above left is a normally shaped specimen of the genus Quinqueloculina . The sediment samples from the different coastal regions are washed, sieved and then dried, before they are put under the microscope. The researchers brought at least 10 kilos of dried material back to Jena, in order to analyse it further. »GEO« photojournalist Dominic Nahr (centre) watches Thomas Biehl (left) and Mauro Alivernini preparing samples in their open-air laboratory at the University of Accra. The photographer and two journalists from the educational feature magazine accompanied the Jena scientists during their work for a whole week.