If money could grow as easy as baker’s yeast…

To watch the budding, it helps if you focus on one square e.g. the upper left; the restless image on the video is caused by the ‘Brownian movement’, water molecules that collide with the yeast cells.

Take some baker’s yeast and grape sugar and dissolve it in a little water, use a cell culture dish and a Motic inverted microscope. With Motic Images Plus 3.0 ML tuned for time laps, shooting frequency one image per minute, you will get the best results.

Yeast cells use sugars to grow. With sufficient oxygen supply - like in this case - the yeasts completely burn their nutrients into water and carbon dioxide, like all aerobic organisms e.g.:

C6H12O6 + 6H2O + 6O2 ==> 6CO2ꝉ + 12H2O

Don't fall into a pitcher plant

A pitcher plant (Nepenthes) is a soloist. The cups of this whimsical eye-catcher vary in length from a few centimeters to more than 30 cm. They are actually transformed leaves that develop when the plant receives sufficient light. Insects find nectar on the lid above the cup and crawl around the cup, looking for more. Just below the cup rim they find new nectar, but immediately below is a slide of wax. They slip into it and fall into the cup.

The scrambling of the creatures activates the glands in the cup which thereby release a strong acid. This acid digests the insects in two days. Only the shell of the animal remains. The plant grows as an epiphyte in trees.

Prepared slide by Lieder www.lieder.com

Breathing under water

Breathing:

Gills are the respiratory organs of many aquatic animals. With fish, the gills are in a space behind the head. Fishes exchange gasses with water through the gills.