Think of the smallest insect that you’ve seen. An ant? A flea? Perhaps you’ve encountered something so minute that it was utterly unrecognisable. This is surprisingly likely, as well over 100 insect families contain species measuring less than 1 mm in length.

The tiniest of these insects are smaller than some single-celled organisms, measuring mere tenths of a millimetre! Being so small, micro insects must navigate strange worlds almost entirely alien to us, negotiating viscous air, electrostatic forces, micro-climates, surface tensions and capillary action. They are affected by the slightest change and yet also able to thrive, often unnoticed and unseen, as some of the most speciose organisms on the planet.

Despite extreme reductions in size, micro insects retain an incredible degree of complexity, exhibiting amazing life histories and rule-bending adaptations. You can see an example in this case: the ‘Featherwing Beetle’, Nephanes titan, which is seemingly capable of associative learning despite having a brain with fewer than 10,000 neurons; a human brain contains approximately 86 billion neurons. Insects like this can be studied as models to further our understanding of a wide range of subjects, from bio-inspired micro technology to genetics, anatomy and neurobiology.

Excitingly, with more technologies and resources at our fingertips than ever before, it’s becoming easier and easier to focus on the little things.