Microscopy
Dear Mum,
Thank you very much for the Christmas microscope. It is exactly what I wanted.
The basic functions are easy to use so I was able to start playing with it straight away. It also does quite a lot more advanced things that I have yet to study so there is definitely "scope" for further investigations.
You can look directly through the eyepieces and/or you can connect it to a computer to see the images on-screen and take photographs and videos. I had a look at some wax, honey and pollen scooped from a honeycomb.
Looking at honey, wax and pollen with incident (reflected) light
Looking at honey, wax and pollen with transmitted light
I then looked at a bee's wing, taken from a dead bee lying outside in the rain. The veining of the wing shows clearly. Surprisingly, the wing membrane seems to be hairy. Here are some photographs of it taken using the microscope camera, via the computer. I think some of the other marks are droplets of rain.
Love Hilary