Posts of the Category: Techniques
Here I explain the handling of the microscope and different methods to enhance contrast.
Safety issues in Microscopy
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.
A Projection Screen for Microscopes
Projection screens are useful if several people want to look at the specimen. The screen is mounted on the trinocular head instead of a camera.
Setting up a Home Laboratory for Microscopy
Why a home lab? For someone who wants to observe ready-made permanent slides or an occasional pond water sample, a fully equipped home laboratory may not be necessary and somewhat of an overkill. In this case it is sufficient to find a reasonably dust-free place to store and operate the microscope. The microscope can then [...]
Determining Size in Microscopic Images
Our Biology curriculum in school requires students to be able to calculate the size of cells and other structures from light micrographs, which have a scale bar. It’s probably more interesting for students to actually take the light micrographs themselves. It is not difficult to determine the size of cells and other structures in light [...]
How to prevent Air Bubbles in Wet Mounts
The statistics feature of my blogging software allows me to see what readers are searching for, and one of the questions that keeps reappearing over and over again is the question on how to prevent air bubbles in wet mounts. I have already published a video on how to correctly make a wet mount (temporary [...]
Testing the Hand Microtome
A few days ago I ordered a microtome. Here is a video showing you the different parts: Now it’s time to test the device. The first sample is a carrot. It can be cut into the right shape to fit into the specimen holder of the microtome and it is sufficiently solid to allow for [...]
Making a wet mount microscope slide
This post explains how to make a wet mount. Video included!
Fixing specimens for making permanent slides
Before specimens can be processed for making permanent slides, they may need to be fixed. This step kills the specimen and preserves the structures. It also prepares the specimen for staining. There is no one single method to fix a specimen, too much depends on the nature of the specimen itself and on the subsequent [...]