Acrylamide is a low molecular weight amide of ethanoic acid that is very useful in forming polymeric gels that are widely used in biochemistry research to separate biopolymers like proteins and DNA. The chemical is very toxic and a strong irritant that should be handled very carefully. When recrystallized from the melt, acrylamide will slowly crystallize, forming beautiful dendritic needle-like crystals. The time-lapse movie was made using a modified version of the Intel Play QX3 microscope equipped for polarized light illumination with a full-wave (first order) retardation plate.