Always good to see an article getting published. This time a piece in the Balsam Post, which is the newsletter of the Postal Microscopical Society. The article looks at a range of diatom slides made by Northern Biological Supplies. These have different sized features, and I used circular oblique illumination in combination 450nm to look at them on my modified Olympus BHB microscope.

As a teaser, here’s one of the images from the article – cross polarized, circular oblique lighting of Amphiupleura pellucida, showing the puncta, spaced about 250nm apart.

While I spend a lot of time working on my dermatology projects, it is nice to occasionally take a break and look at other samples using the equipment I’ve built. This work took and fairly standard set of diatom slides and did imaging using a setup which is adaptable to most microscopes, so unlike my UV research is open to everyone to try. I also donated a set of the slides used to the Postal Microscopical Society so they can send them out to members to try it for themselves.

Organizations such as the Postal Microscopical Society and the Quekett Microscopical Club should not be overlooked when it comes to research. While not all the members will be actively involved in scientific research the collective knowledge of members is enormous, especially when it comes to historical work. I can do nothing but recommend anyone interested in microscopy look to join these groups. Giving something back by writing the occasional article is my way of saying thank you, and provides work which will hopefully be of help to others in the future.

As always, thanks for reading, and if you’d like to know more about my work, please feel free to contact me.