NY Times Video Report on Pond Micro Life

[KurtM]

Passing this along from another forum, I thought it was seriously cool:

https://www.nytimes.com/video/nyregion/ ... -scum.html

[billbillt]

Hi Kurt,

This was very cool!.. This was a very interesting video.. Thanks for sharing..

BillT

[JimT]

Thanks. Interesting video and interesting microscope.

[IanW]

Very interesting. What is the adaptor she puts onto the mobile phone?

[apochronaut]

It's a custom adapter, made by and for the Newton NM1 microscope. There are 4 of them for various iphones and android too.
The microscope does accept higher quality cameras as well.

[KurtM]

Newton NM1 microscope.

http://www.newtonmicroscopes.com/about.html

Dear Santa...

[zzffnn]

Newton NM1 microscope.

http://www.newtonmicroscopes.com/about.html

Dear Santa...

That portable scope has no condenser, so its actual resolution won't be much, even with oil immersion objective. Though one can argue that very few people would need such high magnification or resolution from a portable scope. Its retail price seems too much for what it provides.

[charlie g]

Fantastic video, Kurt, thanks. It's a classic theme..putting 'us', the environment, and then the microlevel fauna and flora in play all together in a way which brings a microscopy world view to our awareness!

Hkv, a while back, shared in this forum a link to just such microscopy world views.. a video of.his children and him hiking the shore of a water body...and observing the interplay of life , including the microscopy views.

Clara Keen Bayliss did this theme in 1897, " In Brook and Bayou" complete with protest delightful images ( it would be fun to 'look into' [microscopy pun] the sort of optics Clara had use of!).

Winifred Duncan did this theme in 1950, " Private Life of the Protozoa, and their Neighbors, the Metazoa and Inscet Larvae".

Thanks, Kurt! Charlie Guevara, finger lakes/US

[Crusty]

I sample the waters of NYC, too- mostly in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. I noticed less life near the shore in warm weather than cold weather. Algae (schmutz, as it's called in NYC) disappeared, leaving only cement and dirt near the shore. People fishing have not noticed any change. Does pond life migrate to the edge of the water in cold weather and deeper, colder water in the summer?