Eric Schlaepfer showcases the surprisingly intricate structures of capacitors, LEDs, connectors, and other often-overlooked parts
Photo: Eric Schlaepfer/Tube Time
Light Show: A two-color LED sanded almost in half, with still-functioning light-emitting junctions.
As we’ve remarked in these pages before, oftentimes some of the best engineering around is invisible, hidden inside black boxes of one sort or the other. If the black box is sufficiently important in some way, professional forensic and reverse engineers can be employed to crack it open and reveal its secrets