MICSCAPE - Exploring the miniature world

Issue 286 : January 2020 (ISSN 1365 - 070x) Monthly, next issue February 13th 2020.

Image by James R. Stewart.

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 Micscape Editor:
David Walker

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.

A microscopical examination of cold relief capsules, nail polish remover and sticky tape - James R Stewart explores the use of polarizing filters with readily available materials. PDF

The riddle of the brick red amoeba - in the eighth article on his series describing the testate amoebae, Hans Rothauscher (Germany) discusses and illustrates examples with this colouration. PDF

Making casts - Christian Autotte (Canada) describes and illustrates the use of peels to capture surface detail. PDF

An album of vitamin C mixtures - Richard L. Howey (USA) shares an attractive gallery of ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) crystal mixtures.

Fluorescence microscopy: OI-1 modification - Luis A Felipe (Peru) presents an article on how this Russian LOMO incident light accessory can be adapted. PDF

Micromoods. The foundation of new psychology - Richard L. Howey (USA) shares images with novel interpretations.

    In Focus: Books
    Illustrated guides to freshwater life     - David Seamer (Australia), who has shared some of his splendid drawings from life of microorganisms on Micscape, has prepared a series of identification guides using his illustrations. The series includes guides for ciliates, flagellates, diatoms, free-living peritrichs, protozoa and amoeba as well as a general guide. They can be found and ordered from his website www.davidseamer.com.

    Snow crystals by Kenneth Libbrecht - free monograph. Many will be familiar with the world class work by Kenneth Libbrecht on snow crystals and his stunning imagery (his website with many resources is www.snowcrystals.com). He published in 2019 a 500+ page heavily illustrated monograph on 'Snow Crystals' and has placed in the public domain for free as a pdf. There's much of interest to the hobbyist. The link below is to a Quanta Magazine article in December 2019 by Rebecca Boyle and link to the pdf on arXiv.org.

    Thank you to Steve Neeley for spotting and not least to Kenneth Libbrecht for making such a stunning resource freely available.
    https://www.quantamagazine.org/toward-a-grand-unified-theory-of-snowflakes-20191219/

    For potential readers who prefer a paper copy, there are many local printers who at reasonable rates can print and bind a single copy for personal use by uploading the pdf to their website. The copy printed out for the Micscape Ed. is shown below. For fellow folk where it is rarely possible locally to view Nature's snow crystals, they can be simply created (albeit asymmetrical) for a few pounds at any time of year indoors with a Peltier plate. They can be viewed growing in real time under a stereo. From experience, the lowest wattage plates are most successful as less heat to dissipate from the hot side. The plate shown is a TEC1-04903 10W (5.8V 3.3A).

    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).
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News - special notices - misc.


External links. Updated April 2019. 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.

Yahoo groups: a 'P' denotes current and archived messages are public i.e. not limited to members. Nov.2019. Links updated where known to the latest *.io groups.
 Amateur Microscopy P (started November 2008)
Yahoo Diatom Forum P
Microscope P (>1500 members, very active)
Wild M20 microscope
microcosmo (for Italian speaking enthusiasts)
CombineZ P stacking software forum created by the software's author

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). 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.

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.
© Onview.net Ltd, Microscopy-UK, and all contributors 1995 onwards. All rights reserved. Main site is at www.microscopy-uk.org.uk