The purple pods you see in this scanning electron micrograph are the H5N2 avian influenza virus, an averted threat to the poultry and egg industry and, in very rare cases, a risk to human health. However, these particular pods are unlikely to infect anything as they are trapped in a gray mesh of carbon nanotubes. Made by hanging carbon atoms in a cylindrical pattern, these nanotubes are about 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.