Gele wratspons (Celtodoryx ciocalyptoides)

Net buiten ons normale zichtsbereik kom je niet zelden de mooiste structuren tegen. Hier zien we een gele wratspons, een exoot die in de Oosterschelde te vinden is. Mikkel Suijker fotografeerde dit dier(!) zowel onder water als in de microscoop. Het skelet van deze spons bestaat uit kunstig gevormde kiezelnaaldjes (spiculae). Qua samenstelling zijn de spiculae gelijk aan zandkorrels, maar…

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Perception flips over

Perception flips over....You may see one star engraved in the background while the other one is on top. Actually, the two images are one and the same, just rotated 180°. This is a detail of a 10 euro cent coin. Image was made with oblique lighting and 30x magnification, creating a shadow view. Apparently, our brains give different interpretations of…

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Bacterial capsules

All microscopes have their limits. Obtaining a good image at the highest resolution requires careful adjustment of microscope and sample material. But without contrast nothing would be visible. Here we pushed our tungsten cryo-SEM (Jeol 6490LA + Gatan Alto2500) to high magnifications by applying a shadowed sputtercoating of platinum, with nitrogen gas feed instead of the usual argon. These Lactobacillus…

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