Be eaten behind bars

The Venus Flytrap (Dionaea) is the most spectacular of the meat eating plants. The leaves of this carnivore consist of two parts that can close. When an insect or small spider is touching the tactile hairs when eating from the nectar present on the leaf surface, the folding mechanism is activated. The two parts of the leaf will close within the blink of an eye. ‘Bars’ prevent the victim from escaping. However, the plant cannot be fooled. To be sure that the prey is present, it must touch the six tactile hairs of the leaf twice. When touched once, the leaves will not close.

Venus Flytrap

The microscopic photo shows the glands that are on the inside of the leaf. These glands secrete the fluid that serves to digest the prey

Prepared slide by Lieder

© www.willemsmicroscope.com

Purple Rain

On and around Mount Etna, Lapillo Vulcanico (Italian) is found all over the place. During explosive volcanic eruptions it falls like rain out of the sky over a wide spread area. The Lapillo Vulcanico from Mount Etna has a purplish color. It is present in thick layers on and around the volcano and can also be found, thinly spread over more remote areas.

Lapillo Vulcanico or Lapilli is a size classification term for tephra, which is material that falls out of the air during a volcanic eruption. Lapilli means "little stones" in Latin. By definition Lapilli range from 2 to 64 mm in diameter. A pyroclastic particle greater than 64 mm in diameter is known as a volcanic bomb when molten, or a volcanic block when solid. Pyroclastic material with particles less than 2 mm in diameter is referred to as volcanic ash. 

African mahogany Khaya ivorensis

Khaya ivorensis is the most important tree species that provides mahogany originating from Africa. This tree species can grow to a height of around 40 to 50 meters with trunks up to 2 meters thick. The basis of these trees is often buttressed. Khaya ivorensis prefers wet virgin evergreen forest. In Africa, this wood is traditionally used in canoe building. Different parts of the tree are important in traditional medicine and soap making. This noble type of wood is one of the most important species for wood plantations, because the trees grow quickly and produce high-quality wood that is often used where durability and beauty of the construction are important.

Crystals have been made explicitly visible on the photos using polarization. Crystals in plant tissues are generally waste materials and in some cases (amongst others) may also have a strengthening function.

© www.willemsmicroscope.com

What makes a human tooth

The images of a cross-section of the root of a tooth (a ground preparation) show various details of the structure of a tooth. Many of the visible details will not be discussed here. To go more deeply, scientific literature is available.

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

Panthera UC-Plan and diatoms

Diatom skeletons that are free of their content like chlorophyll etc. are excellent objects to test and compare the quality of microscope lenses. In this case, some pictures of the recently marketed Motic Panthera are shown.

The photos are stacked to show the sharpness over the entire length of the diatom. The actual microscopic images through the Panthera microscope are even sharper. Some sharpness is lost by the camera and the photo stacking program.

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!

Cladonia coccifera

This cup lichen is common in forests, sand dunes and heathland. It grows between moss and grass and is about half a centimeter tall. It has a red-colored spore forming fruiting or apothecia.

Lichens are tough organisms which can survive on the most unlikely places, where plants cannot grow. For example, in the desert, in the Antarctic, in high mountains.

How insects breath

The basic insect respiratory system consists of a series of rigid tubes, called tracheae, connected to the outside via pairs of pores called spiracles (typically one pair per segment on the sides of the thorax and abdomen, lacking on certain segments). Air enters the system via the spiracles and the tracheae are air-filled. The spiracles can often be opened and closed and lead into short tracheae that enter a pair of longitudinal tracheal trunks, which are the main tracheal tubes. From these lateral tracheae branch smaller tracheae that supply the tissues with air. This supply is especially rich in the more active tissues, such as muscles, nervous tissues and the gut. Tracheae also extend into the wings, running inside the wing veins.

Miliary TBC

TBC lung (Miliary Tuberculosis) Human c.s.
Motic's BA410E Plan APO 4X | Moticam 10

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease. It is caused by the filamentary tubercle bacillus Mycobacterium tuberculosis an actinomycete. It was discovered in 1882 by Robert Koch, it attacks the various organs of the body. Miliary tuberculosis occurs when the bacilli are spread from a primary infection by the blood and produce a big number of small tubercles (nodules) in other parts of the body, mainly in the lungs.


Clinically, acute miliary tuberculosis, often is a typhoid-like illness that begins shortly after the initial infection, especially in children and adolescents. The tissue

Not just printed paper

In the Euro area national central banks together with the ECB are responsible for the printing of Euro banknotes. The ECB identifies first how many and which bills are needed. Then each central bank is instructed to press a few denominations. The ECB determines which printers in Europe are allowed to print the euro banknotes. These printers must meet the highest quality standards. The printing of Euro banknotes is a laborious process.

No watch without a microscope

For years magnifiers and microscopes are needed for the manufacture and repair of watches. Who does not know the familiar image of the watchmaker wearing a magnifying glass for one eye. He is peering in stooped posture into the interior of a watch as if there is a big hidden secret inside.

When leaves are falling

The images show the prepairation of the cleavage of tissue at the base of the petiole. During the perspiration, ions, which are introduced via the roots, constantly remain behind in the leave tissue, which accumulate over time to such an extent, that they slow down the photosynthesis.

Learning from rats

The rat proves science daily services in areas such as surgery, cancer, heart disease, embryology, diabetes, paraplegia, addiction etc. In research, in the twentieth century, the rat has been partially displaced by the mouse, which is smaller, propagates faster and is easier to manipulate genetically. But because of its greater pharmacological similarity with humans and his larger body - useful in surgeries – the rat has maintained himself in the lab.

Uterus of rat with fetus | Stereomicroscope SMZ171 | Moticam 10

Laboratory rats have bicornuate uteri and weigh between 200 and 400 g. There are numerous different "strains" with slightly different gestational features. A commonly

A bio-indicator for air pollution

Growth of lichens on trees: Bio-indicator for clean and contaminated air. Lichens are dual beings, developed from a symbiosis of algae and tiny fungi. Fungi and algae alone are dependent on moisture.

Rock from the depths of the earth

Basalt belongs to the group of igneous rocks. Igneous rocks are formed when hot liquid magma (lava) from the depths of the earth, is forced to the surface by volcanic forces and flows like a mudslide directly over the earth's surface, where it cools down and solidifies. Basalt is used in the road and hydraulic engineering in particular, as a result of its favorable mechanical properties.

Basalt as (geological) young volcanic rock, gets a fine-grained structure when cooling down relatively rapid. It is interspersed with small circular hollow vesicles. The color ranges from dark gray via gray-black to dark blue. Basalt is very solid and

Tiny packages that contain all information necessary for life

Chromosomes are the packages that hold DNA. They play an essential role in genetics - they are the parcels of genetic material that are passed down from parents to children and together contain the full set of inherited instructions that an embryo receives.

Tar spot (Rhytisma acerinum)

The microscopic image shows an infected leaf with sclerotia. A consequence of monoculture.

Just like buildup of mold on pine needles and on the leaves of the willow, an ascomycete (Rhytisma) is the cause of tar spot. From late summer to autumn, round black mold deposits are growing on the leaves of several species of maple, which overwinter on the ground after the falling of the leaves. In spring distribution

Rheinberg illumination

An interesting variance of darkfield is Rheinberg illumination, discovered in 1896 in London by Julius Rheinberg. The major difference between darkfield and Rheinberg illumination is color. Whereas in darkfield, the background is black and the subject is white, Rheinberg goes a step further and creates a colored background and a colored subject.