Is Microscopy Dead? by mol smith July 2013                 {PAGE 2}

It would only need that one bold move by a master story-teller (script writer) to make a story which involves the human interaction and fictionalised adventures we see in other films, with an exotic array of living forms and risk-laden environments of the microscopic world to set kids racing for their 3D glasses and popcorn. With today's amazing use of CGI graphics, 3D and surround sound, that world which appears so quiet and often remote at the narrow end of a light microscope could suck an auditorium filled with fast-beating hearts into its own light. The spin-offs alone in toys, games, and characters would make a profit bigger than many country's GDP! This may not seem the right way to go for many a seasoned enthusiast microscopist, but my own view is anything which ignites and excites the young will help keep our pursuit alive way after we've dead and gone.

UNIDENTIFIED MICRO FOSSIL

I can recall, I think, two movies being made which engaged plots based on an adventure at a microscopic scale. A fantastic journey, made in 1966, and another I forget. The BBC have a series  which makes great use of CGI to show the human internal digestive system, and the show has been styled well to engage most people. {Click image right to watch an episode portion}. I believe it's just a matter of time before some bright spark puts 2 and 2 together to realise big bucks can be made out of a movie based on the microscopic world.

So... a ray of hope exists there then. What else can be done? Web sites like our own serve the already converted and students looking for homework answers, and some sections help people find out things which might 'bug' them in their personal lives. The eradication of head lice being a strong contender for that aspect and our section on head lice being visited by thousands each month consistently.

Maybe the answer is not that  technology has ousted microscopes from young peoples bedrooms but a modern world is filled with people being conditioned in a different way. Distractions are everywhere. Maybe fewer young people aspire to consider the human journey of exploration as one of the most important aspects of their lives? I grow older quicker, and after decades of looking around and doing what most other people do, but still considering my universe and existence as a major unanswered question, I feel very sad about the prospect of microscopy - hands-on - no longer being there to help enlighten and engage new young minds of the future.

Dinoflagellate Ceratium hirudinella
 

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