Some things you'd rather not see up close.

Some things you'd rather not see up close.

Nevertheless, the folks at the San Joaquin Delta College microscopy laboratory can make the tiniest objects frightfully large using the college's electron microscopes.

Students demonstrated the equipment at an open house Wednesday.

Electron microscopes are capable of viewing objects that typical microscopes cannot. The less advanced scopes can magnify objects to only about 2,000 times their original size, but some electron scopes can magnify up to several million times.

Delta's program helps prepare students for careers in research laboratories, medical schools, hospitals and colleges and universities.

Delta's microscopy website displays sample magnified images: a mouse's liver, a sugar crystal, the tip of an insulin syringe and the legs of a black widow spider.

Look, if you dare, by visiting and typing "microscopy" in the search box. Then click on "Image Gallery" on the left-hand side of the screen.