When cosmic rays reach the Earth, they collide with atoms in the atmosphere, blowing them apart into subatomic particles (pions, muons, and neutrinos). Most of them only make it that far, but a few (about 100,000 per square meter per second) reach the ground. They can trigger lightning strikes, cause electronics to malfunction, or damage living cells. (Don't worry too much about this last one, though, you're at much greater risk from UV radiation than from cosmic rays.)
The chances of every atom in an organism being struck by a cosmic ray simultaneously are astronomical (no pun intended). But I decided to simulate what that might look like, with garden plants (mostly flowers) as my subject, using Stable Diffusion. Sometimes the plants stayed intact and color exploded around them. Sometimes the plants burst into a conflagration of extra leaves, stems, and petals that were still identifiable as the original plant, though twisted or distorted. Other times the plants were completely consumed by the explosion so that only streamers of color were left.
Forsythia
Foxglove
Freesia
Fritillaria
Fuchsia
Gardenia
Geranium
Gerber Daisy
Gladiolus
Goldenrod
Heather
Heliconia
Hellebore
Hibiscus
Hollyhock
Honeybee
Honeysuckle
Hostas
Hummingbird
Hyacinth
Hydrangea
Hypericum
Impatiens
Indian Blanket
Indian Paintbrush
These illustrations were drawn using Stable Diffusion 2.1.
