MICSCAPE - Exploring the miniature world

Issue 342: September 2024 (ISSN 1365 - 070x)      Monthly, next issue October 13th 2024.

 

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

A gallery of the genus Stentor - Robert McCallum (Canada) describes and illustrates examples of this large protozoan. PDF

African trypanosomiasis - Steven Durr (UK) describes and illustrates the cause of this disease, sleeping sickness. PDF

A large protozoan. Frontonia - Jean-Marie Cavanihac (France) describes and illustrates this marine microorganism. PDF

Microscopical exploration thirty six. Aliquots! Does size really matter? - James Stewart (UK) explores how the volume of solution affects crystal morphology from evaporation.  PDF

Carl Zeiss Nomarski DIC system - Fritz Schulze shares a valuable overview of this system. PDF

Roatan 13. More building and fixing - G. Joseph Wilhelm (Honduras) shares his progress on building a home lab on the island of Roatan. Includes repair of a seized Brunel field microscope. PDF

Notes on contrast enhancement techniques at near IR and approaching near UV wavelengths. Part 2 - DIC at deep blue wavelengths - David Walker (UK)

In Focus: September 7th 2024 was Van Leeuwenhoek day. 350 years ago he first reported in a letter to the Royal Society his observation of a microorganism found in a lake. Read Wim van Egmond's Micscape article where he carefully reassesses the more likely identity of what was previously thought to be Spirogyra.

From the Archives. An issue nine years ago in September 2015.


 

A simple differential stain of blood smears using black Quink - Chris Thomas (UK) shares a simple but very effective blood staining technique using a household item. PDF

A mid-nineteen-forties Spencer microscope - Michael Reese Much (USA) shares a restoration project of a model from a famous maker. PDF

Chikungunya virus. An emerging disease in Latin America - Alejandro Arriel Garcia Arriaga (Mexico) describes this less well known disease. PDF

Using a drawing attachment to project grids and scales into the microscope field of view - Jay Phillips (USA) describes how a drawing attachment can be used in reverse. PDF  

DIY fluorescence, part 2 - Alejandro Arriel Garcia Arriaga (Mexico) continues his series on how to create fluorescence type effects either with suitable sub-stage filters or with image processing techniques.  PDF

August: An idle gallery - The sadly late Richard Howey (USA) shares a selection of attractive images of mixed crystals taken using polarised light.

The Tuffen you probably missed, and some you've never seen - The sadly late Peter Paisley (Australia) describes and illustrates examples of less well known drawings by Tuffen West. DOCX For optimal viewing please use a desktop screen with WP software that has a 'web layout' option to view DOCX files. E.g. the freeware LibreOffice or OpenOffice.

More weird echinoderm morphology - The sadly late Richard Howey (USA) explores a variety of examples of these fascinating organisms on the macro and microscopic scale to see what can be found.

Micscape Snippets 1 - On soccer balls, insect compound eyes ... and Euler - David Walker (UK) ponders on the underlying geometry of the insect compound eye using a cultivated silk moth eye as an example.

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!

 

Archive
Look for that elusive article on our site:
Micscape Magazine past issues online
(read articles online using the original illustrated index for each month).
Article Library (browse articles by category)
Automated Search (a search engine for keyword searches in all articles)
Contributor index (a list of all Micscape contributors to date)
News - special notices - misc.


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 (>21000 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.

The Amateur Diatomist archive This magazine resource ably created and administered by Steve Gill has now been ported to the Microscopy-UK site with Steve's permission as the former host server is now not available.
As well as all the issues in pdf format there are a wealth of other resources in the Downloads section including by noted workers such as Barber and the complete 532 page book 'An Introduction to the Microscopical Study of Diatoms' by Robert B. McLaughlin.

Diatoms of the Arid South West Originally hosted on the website of New Mexico State University, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Services. Archived with permission from Dave Richman, resource editor, and C. Scott Bundy of the NMSU.

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
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. Link to March 2020 mirror on the Internet Archive site. 
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
Historical makers of microscopes and microscope slides Brian Stevenson's extensive resource on Victorian slide makers.
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.
Dotcom-Monitor, LoadView Testing, Web Hosting Buddy, and Find My Electric are tech/science companies that believe in and foster UK Microscopy and STEM education.


 

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