The
fascinating world of rotifers - Jean-Marie
Cavanihac (France) presents an illustrated introduction
to some of the common species; includes some delightful
animations.
The
'handsomest' desmid - Bill
Ells (UK) describes and illustrates an attractive desmid
species Xanthidium armatum var. cervicorne.
Why
I like darkfield illumination - Gregor
Overney (USA) presents a fascinating illustrated article
on the merits of darkfield illumination cf other contrast
enhancement techniques.
Botanical
microtechnique Part 2: Staining botanical sections - Jim
Battersby (UK) continues his series with a selection of
useful staining protocols accessible to the microscopy
enthusiast.
A
gallery of sulphur photomicrographs (using polarized light)
- Brian Johnston (Canada)
shares a stunning selection of images with guidelines for
preparing slides of this chemical element.
Investigating
the past of a John B Dancer microscope
- Barry Miller (USA)
describes his research into aspects of the history
of a fascinating microscope which he owns.
Image
gallery: Arthropods photographed using CombineZ software
- Alan Hadley (UK)
shares an attractive selection of images taken with the
popular 'image stacking' software which he has developed.
The
strange and the beautiful
- Ian Walker (UK) presents
a selection of images of prepared slides, including some of
damaged and deteriorating slides to show how interesting
images can be found in those imperfections.
Let
there be light: Scoping with fibre optics - Ron
Neumeyer (Canada) describes and illustrates a neat way of
retrofitting a compound miroscope's internal incandescent lamp
with a fibre optic light source.
Colour
phase contrast
- Rene van Wezel (UK) shows how to achieve colour phase
contrast with a brightfield condenser, with illustrations
of the potential of this technique.
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In
focus:
New publications: 'The petrographic
microscope. Evolution of a mineralogical
research instrument' by Daniel E. Kile.
Supplement to the Mineralogical Record, Special
publication number one, November - December
2003. 96pp. $20. Published by the Mineralogical
Record, Inc. The Micscape Ed. is
enjoying reading a copy. The carefully researched
text is copiously illustrated with
the finest photographs of microscopes and accessories
I recall ever seeing in any book.
John G. Delly reviews the monograph in
the McCrone Group's online journal 'Modern
Microscopy'. Use Google
to locate suppliers.
Online
resources: The Zeiss (UK) website has a useful downloadable
document entitled Michel Lévy Color Chart - Polarized Light Conoscopic Determination accessible
via their Zeiss Microscopes page (follow
the links 'Infomateriel/Brochures'
- 'Upright microscopes: Industry, to the
brochures'. Downloadable in Acrobat pdf format,
2MB). As well as an excellent example of the
Michel Lévy chart, the document also
includes an illustrated summary of
interference figures types for different minerals.
The 'brochure' web page also includes links
to other interesting downloadable documents
on microscopy in materials science topics.
Software:
The powerful software package ImageJ (http://rsb.info.nih.gov/ij/),
now has a module
for extended depth of field (EDF) (see http://bigwww.epfl.ch/demo/edf/index.html for
more information). Information and links kindly supplied by Gregor Overney.
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