Small air bubbles in the slide are not generally a problem but can be avoided or reduced by several methods.

Some specimens are more susceptible to air bubbles than others.

The wet mount is the most common way of preparing objects for microscopic observations.

Objects for microscopy must be sufficiently thin, translucent and must have a sufficiently high contrast.

A slide box with ready-made permanent slides gives you already many interesting things to look at.

Apply some nail polish to make impressions of leaves. This way you can observe the epidermis of the leaf.

Safety issues in microscopy are not only relevant to amateur microscopists, but also for teachers who want to conduct basic microbiological and microscopic work in a school laboratory. In this case the organisms are alive and depending on the type of organism, they may pose a possible health hazard. The post addresses some of the safety issues that should be taken into consideration.

Squashing the specimens (instead of cutting them) is a fast and easy way to prepare specimens.

Is it possible to use microscopes to identify pathogens, such as the EHEC bacterium, which currently (May-June 2011) causes problems in some parts of Europe? The answer is, unfortunately, no.

A simple check of the refrigerator (or the super market) provides many safe sources for microorganisms to view under the microscope.