Viral Pic Exhibits Caffeine Beneath a Microscope?

Caffeine is a heckuva drug, and one picture shared on social media in early 2024 purportedly confirmed a close-up of the geometric, dazzling array of “what caffeine appears to be like like beneath a microscope.”

On March 5, 2024, that photograph was shared on Reddit (archive) and had obtained greater than 20,000 upvotes as of this publication: 

This is what caffeine looks like under a microscope
byu/Budget_Put1517 ininterestingasfuck

One other model of the {photograph} appeared on X (previously Twitter) the next day, which we archived here. The put up had obtained greater than 102,000 views as of this writing: 

That is what caffeine appears to be like like beneath a microscope.

That is what it looks like too. pic.twitter.com/Mues6mbY0E

— Wall Road Silver (@WallStreetSilv) March 6, 2024

Utilizing a reverse-image search by way of Google Lens (archive), Snopes decided that Pixels, a images and artwork internet hosting web site, revealed the unique {photograph}. Titled, “Polarized gentle micrograph of caffeine crystals,” the picture is described as depicting:

Polarized gentle micrograph of caffeine crystals is {a photograph} by Nic Van Oudtshoorn which was uploaded on August seventh, 2023.

Under is how the picture appeared on the image-hosting platform as of this publication:

Snopes contacted Van Oudtshoorn by way of e-mail, and he confirmed that the picture was real. We have rated this declare as True.

“I’m a macro photographer and captured the picture utilizing a specialised polarising gentle microscope after drying caffeine to type crystals on a microscope slide,” including that the enlargement “might have been between about 80 and 200 instances.”

Von Oudtshoorn is described on his Pixels bio as an award-winning Australia-based photojournalist and nature photographer who focuses on wildlife and macro images. 

Based on the National Library of Medicine, caffeine is a naturally occurring stimulant that impacts the central nervous system. Essentially the most extensively taken psychoactive stimulant globally, caffeine is most frequently sourced from the espresso bean however can be present in tea and as an additive to soda and vitality drinks. Its chemical construction appeared within the June 2016 problem of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine Inpress as under:

Snopes has fact-checked different caffeine-related claims. See our caffeine archive for extra.

Sources