MICSCAPE - Exploring the miniature world

Issue 290 : May 2020 (ISSN 1365 - 070x) Monthly, next issue June 13th 2020.

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Siliceous and calcareous micro-fossils under oblique light. Image by Jay Philips.
 

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Micscape Contacts
Micscape Editor:
David Walker
Email: micscape AT ntlworld DOT com

Please do not contact the above for image permissions. Each article contributor retains the copyright to their material so should be contacted directly via the link in the relevant article. Thank you.

Comments on Micscape and contributions welcomed.
Contributions: Any modern format welcomed i.e. pdf. doc/docx with embedded images, or html + jpegs.

Distinguishing micro-fossil silica from calcium carbonate under oblique illumination - Jay Phillips (USA) shares a powerful but simple technique. PDF

Exploring amber under the microscope - Christian Autotte (Canada) describes and illustrates the type of organisms which can be found in amber. PDF

Calcareous stuff - Richard L. Howey (USA) shares an attractive gallery to illustrate the wide variations in forms from Nature.

A retro perspective - by Mol Smith (UK) shares early video footage of a fly feeding taken with his JVC camcorder using a macro attachment.

Leafy landscapes under the microscope - Mike Gibson (UK) shares further striking acetate peels taken from leaf surfaces.

Notes on an arranged diatom slide labelled 'by K. R. Green, Cottingham' - David Walker (UK)

    In Focus: Thank you to Ahron Wayne who contacted us about his ingenious and fascinating projects on 3D microscopy. He has developed and built his own cost effective rigs to spin subjects such as insects on multiple axes while taking macro images. These images are then processed to create 3D movies. Ahron writes:

    My name is Ahron Wayne. I'm a student at Lawrence Tech in Southfield, Michigan finishing up a Master's in biomedical engineering. Most of what I do is work on new techniques for motorized microscopy, largely on the cheap. .... My first major project that has been wrapped up was a 3D scanner for very small things, made almost entirely out of Blu-Ray players. It works by performing 3D scanning on top of 2D scanning, so you can get surprisingly big/good images of small objects from all sides using one of those really cheap USB microscope as your optical system.
    Lately I've been trying to improve upon this system with better mechanics and optics, using for instance a 3D printer with up to 5 axes of motion control and a decent USB microscope. I've started stacking and stitching  large 2D scans of thousands of images, and am trying to incorporate machine vision for things like PCB inspection and automatic insect tracking
    .

    Update June 3rd. Ahron's project is now seeking funding via Kickstarer, follow the link to learn more.


    We are delighted to receive contributions small or large from microscopy enthusiasts whether a novice or expert. If you have an image, tip or article, why not share it, this magazine is what you make it!

     

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External links. Updated April 2020. Below are some of our favourites, which includes sites with extensive links and/or resources for the optical microscopy enthusiast.

External Microscopy forums: Places to discuss the hobby or to raise queries.
www.photomacrography.net
forums, galleries, articles on macroscopy and photomicrography.

groups.io (formerly Yahoo groups):
Amateur Microscopy
Diatom Forum
Microscopy as a hobby or profession
Wild Microscopes

Facebook groups:
Amateur Microscopy (>6000 members, very active). Also specialist groups e.g. for users of given maker's microscopes (e.g. Zeiss, Olympus, Wild, Vickers). Also try a Facebook Group search with keywords like microscope or microscopy to find these.

Other:
Microbe hunter the website ably run by Oliver Kim has built up a popular and valuable forum with help for both the beginner and more advanced user.

Listservers:
Algae-L
'Forum for marine, freshwater and terrestrial algae'. Access to Archives possible for non-subscribers.
Diatom-L 'Research on the diatom algae.' Access to Archives for subscribers only. Link was current March 2016. Many online diatom resources point to an outdated Indiana Univ. listserver. (With thanks to Rob Kimmich for the current link.)

Mikroskopie-Treff.de (Extensive German microscopy forum; some English categories.)
Mikrobiologische Vereinigung München e. V. Wide range of articles and resources in German.
Le Naturaliste French based forum and image gallery for micro / macro but open to non French speaking international contributors.

Other sites (also see Societies and Clubs page.)
Royal Microscopy Society Journal, 'infocus' and other resources for members and the community.
Quekett Microscopical Club Journal, Bulletin and meetings for members.
Light Microscopy Forum links and articles
Little Imp Publications public domain books collated by Steve Gill formerly on CD and now free on Micscape.
Mikroskop Museum German website with resources on microscopes / makers .
Molecular Expressions awesome optical microscopy resources
Dennis Kunkel's SEM images stunning images
Diatoms Ireland - resource site by Leszek Wolnik
Leitz museum an illustrated resource compiled by Robert Allen
Microbe hunter microscopy enthusiast website, forum and magazine edited by Oliver Kim
Microscopies online magazine and Forum for French speakers
Micrographia articles, projects for the enthusiast
Microscopy Today
journal with online archive
Modern Microscopy
online journal by McCrone Group
Fun Science Gallery projects, articles on optics in English and Italian.
Independent Generation of Research (IGoR) - Wiki style resource for citizen scientists to share their work.
Lens On Leeuwenhoek - extensive resource online by Douglas Anderson
Collected Letters of Antoni van Leeuwenhoek ('Alle de Brieven ..') transcribed and free online at DBNL.
A Cabinet of Curiosities a resource on Victorian microscope slides by Howard Lynk
Klaus Kemp's 'Diatoms' website - offers regional strews and arranged prepared slides of diatoms, an 8 form test slide, radiolaria, insect scales etc and prepares arranged slides on commission.
'Diatoms Ireland' resource by Leszek Wolnik
Historical makers of microscopes and microscope slides Brian Stevenson's extensive resource .
Victorian slide makers
Cambridge rocking microtome resources including manual
www.willemsmicroscope.com Dutch enthusiast Willem Cramer's website
David Jackson's Better Microscopy blog. Regularly updated free resources extending from his 'Better Microscopy' series of books.
Stefano Barone's Diatom Shop
sale of his own prepared and arranged slides of diatoms, radiolaria, forams and scales.
www.testslides.com website devoted to Stefano Barone's Diatom Lab test slides.
Darwin Biological a UK company for 'biological education' supplies. Including live cultures of protozoa and algae.
Microscopie van de Natuur Dutch microscopy resource site by Rolf Vossen.
 

Microscopy-UK
parent site coordinator:
Maurice Smith


Microscopy-UK and Micscape - established 1995
Micscape is a free magazine for enthusiasts funded by Microscopy-UK and dedicated to non-commercial microscopy.
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