Comment by quantadev
I always thought these creatures of microscopic silica formed hard glass-like structures as part of the fossilization over millions of years, but nope, I was shocked to find out those glass structures are their cell walls WHILE they're alive.
They look like they'd form their shape like a snowflake does, but it's their DNA controlling the shape.
Why can't we model the math/code that generates their forms? I would love to have a random-diatom creating app. Better still to take it to the next level and generate an .stl file I could 3D print.