davelin315 February 2, 2016 Share February 2, 2016 The museum that I run, the Children's Science Center Lab (Fair Oaks Mall, Fairfax, VA), was recently loaned an electron microscope. Needless to say this represented a pretty awesome piece of equipment to have and so last night I stayed at work late taking images of different dried up organisms I found in my tank room. The specimens all need to be dry as it works a little bit like sonar with waves being bounced around the specimen while in a vacuum so I couldn't take any live samples, but the things I made images of were pretty neat. Magnification is indicated in the bottom right of each photo. Shark Tooth Oolitic Sand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 February 2, 2016 Author Share February 2, 2016 Octopus Beak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 February 2, 2016 Author Share February 2, 2016 Bristle Worm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 February 2, 2016 Author Share February 2, 2016 Asterina Star Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 February 2, 2016 Author Share February 2, 2016 On some of these you can see little tiny salt crystals left behind as the animals dried out. Since I don't have much in the way of tanks currently at the house most of these items were scraped off of an old clam shell that I had on a shelf. If you are interested in getting an image of something we do have the microscope here for the next 2 weeks and we are allowing guests to use it. Fair warning, however, we do charge admission and as a children's STEM museum we do require that adults have a child with them for the safety of our guests (we call it the no unaccompanied adult policy ). I do have some coral skeletons that I was going to look at today depending on time and have a question out on how big an item can be scanned as the mounts are only about the size of a quarter at biggest, most are dime sized that we have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM February 2, 2016 Share February 2, 2016 Cool stuff. I was going to ask if those were salt crystals around the bristleworm. I should scrape some of this orange/red stuff that grows on my sand and doesn't respond to Chemiclean, let it dry on a slide, and see what it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 February 2, 2016 Author Share February 2, 2016 I would recommend a cavity slide for that and go with a live specimen. The neat thing about most of the nuisance algae is that it moves and that can help identify it. Cyanobacteria, for example, can wave around and it is very noticeable at the edges of the clumps. This is why it can spread so quickly, it's like a mat of little worms growing across the sand. I may have posted some videos on this before but not sure that the links still work since my photobucket account is acting up. Does chemiclean have antibiotics in it by any chance? I haven't used it before but feel like many strains of cyanobacteria are becoming resistant to treatments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mogurnda February 2, 2016 Share February 2, 2016 Great images, Dave. I always enjoyed working with the EM, because you can just keep turning the magnification higher and higher, and you keep seeing more stuff. At some point, I need EM of the teeth of an unidentified (to me) slug species. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbartco February 2, 2016 Share February 2, 2016 nice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM February 2, 2016 Share February 2, 2016 Does chemiclean have antibiotics in it by any chance? I haven't used it before but feel like many strains of cyanobacteria are becoming resistant to treatments. Rich Ross knows what's in it and he says it doesn't have antibiotics in it. Speculation is that it's some kind of oxidant. It seems to do nothing in my tank except cause the skimmer to foam for a few days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami February 2, 2016 Share February 2, 2016 Rich Ross knows what's in it and he says it doesn't have antibiotics in it. Speculation is that it's some kind of oxidant. It seems to do nothing in my tank except cause the skimmer to foam for a few days. There was also speculation at one time that it might be an anionic polyacrylamide flocculant . Somebody noted once that the MSDS for it had a very, very high LD50 for mice. All just guesses, though. Boyd is understandably hush-hush about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruleyii February 2, 2016 Share February 2, 2016 makes me itchy looking at the worm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 February 2, 2016 Author Share February 2, 2016 Just had one of our guests pick the bristle worm over comparing her hair to her dad's. Some great images were captured by her to take back to school tomorrow after playing hooky with dad for the day! Dave, if you have the slug teeth and want instant access, bring them by the Lab and we can take some images (although I imagine you have access to some nice ones at NIH!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mogurnda February 2, 2016 Share February 2, 2016 Dave, if you have the slug teeth and want instant access, bring them by the Lab and we can take some images (although I imagine you have access to some nice ones at NIH!). I will need to sneak up on them some early morning. I am at UMd now, but they have some pretty nice facilities in College Park. Still, it's hard to convince them to let me use it without coughing up money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami February 3, 2016 Share February 3, 2016 Dave, I was unable to see the images from the office today as the hosting site is blocked. From home, though, no problem! These are great. You must be having a lot of fun imaging things. The salt crystals and the bristle worm pictures are pretty cool. But so are the close ups of the Asterina and those perforated-looking structures on it. What are they anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 February 3, 2016 Author Share February 3, 2016 Not sure, I am thinking that they are like the spines of an urchin since they are both echinoderms. Was never able to see those structures on a regular microscope so this is all new to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 February 3, 2016 Author Share February 3, 2016 Spinelets, from a local echinoderm expert at Smithsonian, Chris Ma. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Origami February 3, 2016 Share February 3, 2016 Like "little spines." Great. Thanks! Spinelets, from a local echinoderm expert at Smithsonian, Chris Ma. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squishie89 February 4, 2016 Share February 4, 2016 I am going to try and make it down to see that thing in action. I have some new specimens drying, and a bunch of old ones ready to go. Were you saying I need to bring a kid? I was confused by that lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 February 6, 2016 Author Share February 6, 2016 Yes, our museum has an unaccompanied adult policy. Adults are not allowed in without children - we are set up for families and in order to protect our families and ensure that they have a safe environment, no adults are allowed in unless they have their child with them (or someone they are responsible for). If you want more info, our rules are posted on our website: http://childsci.org Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squishie89 February 6, 2016 Share February 6, 2016 Yes, our museum has an unaccompanied adult policy. Adults are not allowed in without children - we are set up for families and in order to protect our families and ensure that they have a safe environment, no adults are allowed in unless they have their child with them (or someone they are responsible for). If you want more info, our rules are posted on our website: http://childsci.org Well crud. Guess I have to go find a child to rent =/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YHSublime February 6, 2016 Share February 6, 2016 For a price, I will pretend to be an accompanied (by the payee) child. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM February 7, 2016 Share February 7, 2016 Well crud. Guess I have to go find a child to rent =/ You can have my two for the day and the wife and I will go on a date. 8) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanM February 19, 2016 Share February 19, 2016 Dave, do you have any dead coral around? I'd like to see pictures of internal microstructure of different types of corals. Always been curious if they have growth rings like trees and pores or what. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkiboy February 23, 2016 Share February 23, 2016 Dave, do you have any dead coral around? I'd like to see pictures of internal microstructure of different types of corals. Always been curious if they have growth rings like trees and pores or what.hey alan, not sure if you read this already but thought of you sir when I came across it - interesting stuff.. https://reefbuilders.com/2016/02/18/what-happens-when-you-zap-coral-with-the-worlds-most-powerful-x-ray-laser-deep-look-explains/ pardon the partial thread-jack; still kind of on topic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now