Christmas spirit

To create a Christmas atmosphere through the microscope’, three small amounts of chemicals were dissolved in some tap water. These include aluminum nitrate, ammonium dichromate and copper sulphate.

Put a few drops of this solution on a microscope slide and let the water evaporate slowly. With a little patience, beautiful images can be seen through the microscope, using crossed polarizers and a lambda plate.

The mix of chemicals creates the most bizarre crystal shapes, some of which were captured on the sensitive plate using photo-stacking.

Merry Christmas!

© www.willemsmicroscope.com

This is not possible with our epidermis

The scales of a fish are slanted in the skin of the fish and consist of collagen, calcium phosphate and calcium carbonate. They overlap and form a firm layer that protects the fish against injuries, parasites and enemies. In many cases they also serve as reflectors or give colors.

What’s in a buttercup bud?

The images shown are taken from a beautifully colored prepared slide from the archives of the Royal Antwerp Society for Micrography. The slide is already quite old, from 1988. It shows a cross-section of a bud of the buttercup (Ranunculus) In spite of the age of the slide, the colors are still clear and fresh. Coloring has been carried out with the dyes sun-yellow, crocein scarlet and astra blue. The very thin coupe has been embedded in the resin Euperal. The use of yellow and blue colored dyes, resulted in green colored plant tissues, which is quite special.

Protected against harsh conditions

Helm grass is what we encounter in the dunes among others in the Netherlands. The Ammophillia arenaria can withstand the salty water and salty sea air. Ammophillia arenaria can be planted on all types of soil, only on clay soil it is best to make the soil poor with masonry sand. The soil must be calcareous.

A Casuarina cunninghamiana from Australia

The Casuarina cunninghamiana or the River She-Oak is a large, fast-growing, pine-like tree native to the east of New South Wales and Queensland, Australia. The tree, an evergreen, has thin needle-like, flexible green twigs practically without leaves. An image of a cross section thereof is shown here. The epidermis shows a structure which is a little similar to that of pine needles.

The Casuarina cunninghamiana is one of the tallest trees of its kind and can reach a height of 30-35 m. Its straight stem branches are quite low and its bark is greyish brown, rough and cracked so that it often comes loose in strips. The plants can easily be grown from seeds. In some countries it is considered an invasive species because it can surpass indigenous plant communities.

How a small intestinal roundworm contributed to genetics

Cross-sections at the right place in the uterus of a female Ascaris megalocephala can be used to locate eggs in different stages of the first segmentation mitosis*.

After fixation and coloration of the sections, the chromosomes appear colored. The egg of this parasitic nematode can then serve as a support for studying the chromosomal phenomena that characterize the mitosis.

Smell at a distance

The female silk worm moth (Bombyx mori) makes the pheromone bombykol in a special organ in her abdomen. When she is prepared to mate she releases this to attract males. A male silk worm moth has two long antennas that are very sensitive to the odor of the female. One single molecule is enough to cause a reaction in the sensory cells on the male's antenna. In this way he can locate the female. Even at a distance of 10 kilometers, he can still smell her!