Planet Kurz

 I was working in the lab recently. I took a blood sample, to examine at it under the microscope. I had done this before, but it still fascinates me to see my own blood cells up close, in such great detail. I saw hundreds of red blood cells, many white blood cells, and I think I even saw some platelets. I have a camera connected to my microscope, and took a picture of the cells. I then used a measuring tool in the program to measure the width of the red and white blood cells. I added notes to the image to record details including what the image was, the date, and magnification. It looked good, and I saved the image. I then thought to myself, "Are my measurements correct?" Of course I am the only one who would likely ever see the image and measurements, but I was curious to see if my measurements were consistent with documented and accepted data. After doing some research, and looking at information from multiple sources, it looked as though my measurements were off by a signi...

 I have been working with stains recently, in order to better identify the features of specimens. My first attempt was with yogurt bacteria, using Crystal Violet stain. I was able to see the bacteria, but due to the way I prepared the slide, it required several attempts, and was quite a mess. I tried multiple techniques with and without stain, but I did not achieve the results I had hoped for. Next, I took another blood sample, and stained it with Methylene Blue (Loeffler's solution). Again, I was able to see the blood cells, but I don't think it was much different than without using a stain. My latest experiment was with cheek cells. This time, I observed the specimen without using a stain. I located a sufficient number of cells, then removed the slide and applied Methylene Blue (Loeffler's). Here is a side-by-side picture with and without stain: At 10x magnification, it actually looks better without the stain. Note that I am using ad-hoc darkfield illumination by using th...

 I spent the past year learning about microscopes. I have long wanted to buy a microscope for myself, but I knew I had to do my homework to find out what kind of microscope to get, which features to look for, and what I could expect to do with one. Even without a microscope in hand, this research phase became a hobby unto itself. I spent hours watching how-to videos, and reading product specifications. I created a spreadsheet to list the features I was looking for so that I could compare various models. I learned about the different parts of a microscope and the purpose of each. I knew from past experience with electronics, and robotics, that the initial money spent is just the tip of the iceberg. There are all sorts of accessories which may, or must, be added. With this in mind, I took my time with my research and did not rush into buying anything until I was certain I knew what I needed. At long last, I bought a microscope - an OMAX 2,500x brightfield LED microscope, with a trino...