A Selection of Beginning Projects

Do you have any microscopy questions, which you are afraid to ask? This is your place.
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linuxusr
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A Selection of Beginning Projects

#1 Post by linuxusr » Wed Aug 04, 2021 8:19 pm

One of the advantages of being an amateur microscopist is that you can choose your own projects, on your own time, pursue superficially or in depth. However, doing so without guidance can be a little confusing.

Being that I am still in the "beginner" category working my way to the intermediate, I thought it would be useful to download and skim read all issues of Oliver Kim's Microbe Hunter Microscopy Magazine, available here, at this website.

Here is a brief description of experiments, activities, and information that I think would be a useful place to begin to lay a foundation. There are two topics that run through many issues that I have not included here. One is the preparation and observation of rocks and minerals via polarized light and the other is the history of the stereomicroscope.

I have sequestered on my desktop a folder of those magazines whose contents I will be pursuing according to the following list. Hopefully, you will find some items here that you will be interested in exploring, and if you take it upon yourself to read through all the issues, I'm sure you will find others to pursue that I have left out.

MHMM

February, 2011
a. centrifuging protozoa
b. fungi from household food items


August, 2011
Two articles: DIY Rheinberg and oblique illumination

October, 2011
article: finding and observing tardigrades
article: Oliver Kim: “Safety Issues for Microscopists” Infusions, if handled properly, can be dangerous. This is a must read article for beginners and has reminders for the experienced as well: article, two authors: lichen and fungi terminology; observing lichens


December, 2011
article: “Microscope Slides: Styles, Features, and Preparation Techniques”
article on DIY darkfield and polarization illumination


July, 2012
article: Oliver Kim: bird feathers


August, 2012
Four articles on Rheinberg illumination, one by Oliver Kim and three historical, including two by Julius Rheinberg.


September, 2012
another article on tardigrades


March, 2013
article: amoebae classification


May, 2013
article: Oliver Kim, culturing paramecia


July, 2013
two articles; ciliate classification and Bdelloid rotifers

August, 2013
two articles: alga Micrasterias and growing algae

September, 2013
book review: proper care of optics


November, 2013
two articles: preparing plant tissue; using iodine to test for starch in algae (needed for classification).

December, 2013
two articles: specimen preparation and microscopy websites

January, 2014
two articles: plasmolysis of red onion cells; microscopy websites


February, 2014
two articles: plant tissue observations; microscopy websites.

March, 2014
three articles: condenser adjustment; slide staining; micro-tools.


August, 2014
two articles: mosses; microtomes

February, 2016

Review of Mary Ward’s (1827-1869) “The Microscope or Descriptions of Various Objects of Especial Interest and Beauty Adapted for Microscopic Observation” The link to the .pdf of this copy, a copy of the original book, 4th edition, was broken but it was easy to find via google search.
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perrywespa
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Re: A Selection of Beginning Projects

#2 Post by perrywespa » Fri Aug 06, 2021 11:40 am

When I first found this site, I did the same thing with saving the magazines. Thanks for the content reminder. It's time I gave them another look.
Perry
Insatiably curious.

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linuxusr
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Re: A Selection of Beginning Projects

#3 Post by linuxusr » Fri Aug 06, 2021 3:43 pm

One of my first follow-ups from the magazines is the use of a centrifuge to concentrate protozoa. The large size of a specimen jar compared to the meager drops that you place on a slide tells you that the probability is low that you are going to find a range of organisms in one drop of fluid.

I am looking at Eisco Labs hand centrifuge which costs less at their website than it does at Amazon but less than $100.00 USD. The article gives a couple of methods for centrifuging based on the writer's experience. Next month I plan to buy this device. BTW, the link to the centrifuge that the author purchased and references in the article is now dead.

The Eisco centrifuge has four buckets (strange name for a test tube holder): https://www.eiscolabs.com/products/ch0266b I called the company to express reservations since Amazon had one one star review, the others being five stars. The person on the phone reassured me and was very friendly, so at least I could speak with a human. It occurs to me that you only need to fill one bucket, so you could just fill the second tube with water to counterbalance the first . . .

Meanwhile, to increase my odds, I use a long cover glass and utilize maybe four drops per slide. So far I am getting a simple as yet unidentified protozoan which I notice, however, has a tropism for light. So I scan the perimeter of the cover glass. Most specimens, actually, have already left the coverglass and are on the slide, or between the slide and the coverglass.

At 400x TM, I could not see cillia, neither could I resolve any of the interior discrete components, such as a nucleus. At 1000x TM, due to their movements in the Z direction--I was using a depression slide--the specimen diameter was increased but the resolution was very poor. The depth of the focal plane for that objective must be just a few μm, so the specimens were likely moving rapidly in and out of the image plane.

Next I will try a wetmount with methyl cellulose and let it dessicate for a few hours and see if I can get an immobile specimen at 1000x TM.

Anyone have experience with Eisco Labs?
Nikon AlphaPhot 2 < Zeiss Primostar 3, Full Köhler; Axiocam 208 Color < UHD LG
Aller Anfang ist schwer.

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