I am going to try to get some high powered images of bacteria tonight. Let's hope they turn out okay.

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Cladophora is a pretty alga. Too bad there are too many algae in China near the Olympics site. I wonder how many quadrillion there are there. If anyone wants to get a smart-alec answer from the technical department, just ask Celestron about one of its microscopes. I got one to a question about installation of a reticle in a 10x eyepiece of its new model, the 44110. I'm all ready to but maybe I'll never buy that model. Too bad, because I feel that that might be a pretty decent scope (but don't really know).

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Cladophora is a pretty alga. Too bad there are too many algae in China near the Olympics site. I wonder how many quadrillion there are there. If anyone wants to get a smart-alec answer from the technical department, just ask Celestron about one of its microscopes. I got one to a question about installation of a reticle in a 10x eyepiece of its new model, the 44110. I'm all ready to but maybe I'll never buy that model. Too bad, because I feel that that might be a pretty decent scope (but don't really know).

That's a pretty nice scope. If I was you I wouldn't buy direct from Celsestron. The cheapest place I've seen, and where I got my scope, is[ url=http://www.opticsplanet.net/celestron-professional-microscope-plan-optics-koehler-44110.html]here[/url].

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Cladophora is a pretty alga. Too bad there are too many algae in China near the Olympics site. I wonder how many quadrillion there are there. If anyone wants to get a smart-alec answer from the technical department, just ask Celestron about one of its microscopes. I got one to a question about installation of a reticle in a 10x eyepiece of its new model, the 44110. I'm all ready to but maybe I'll never buy that model. Too bad, because I feel that that might be a pretty decent scope (but don't really know).

That's a pretty nice scope. If I was you I wouldn't buy direct from Celsestron. The cheapest place I've seen, and where I got my scope, is here <---- click me

keep up the great work Sir!

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BOINC Wiki . . .

Science Status Page . . .

Well, all I had time for tonight was some E-coli bacteria. These images did not turn out nearly as well as I had hoped they would, I just don't have the right kind of equipment to take images of bacteria, although the view that I saw with my actual eyes was fantastic! Some of the best images I got was from capturing frames from a video I took:



But this image taken with a camera along turned out pretty good:

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That's a pretty nice scope. If I was you I wouldn't buy direct from Celsestron. The cheapest place I've seen, and where I got my scope, is[ url=http://www.opticsplanet.net/celestron-professional-microscope-plan-optics-koehler-44110.html]here[/url].

Adorama has them for $1000, shipping included. That's the cheapest I've found.

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I know this is off topic but the admins say this belongs in the science forums where no one will see it:


Scientific American

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=martian-soil-fit-for-earthly-life

Martian soil around NASA's Phoenix Lander is slightly alkaline and has enough different minerals that it could support Earthly plants and—more to the point—microbes beneath the Martian surface, according to the first results from the probe's wet chemistry experiment released today.

Mission scientists say the soil has a pH between 8 and 9, which places it somewhere around seawater or baking soda in alkalinity. It also contains the minerals magnesium, sodium, potassium and chloride. Further analysis is expected to reveal whether it contains other chemicals such as nitrogen and sulfates. The finding implies that life could indeed survive below the surface, where it would be protected from harmful ultraviolet rays and harsh oxidants that might accumulate on the top layer of soil.

Michael Hecht, lead researcher on Phoenix's Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA) instrument, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said it would be safe, if gritty, to sprinkle a spoonful of the soil on your breakfast cereal.

"If you had it on Earth, you could grow something, no problem," MECA co-investigator Samuel Kounaves, chemist at Tufts University, said during a news conference at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Were astronauts to set up a greenhouse on Mars, Hecht said, they might be able to grow plants that thrive in basic soil, such as asparagus, green beans and turnips; not so strawberries, blueberries and other fruit, however, that require more acidic soil. (So much for a healthy breakfast.)

The results were announced a day after Phoenix's robot arm placed about 0.06 cubic inch (one cubic centimeter) of soil, skimmed from the top inch of dirt at Wonderland, the probe's current dig site, into MECA's wet chemistry experiment, which melted a small block of ice brought from Earth and then dropped the soil into the water for analysis.

"We're making mud, we're stirring it up, we're measuring it with sensors," Hecht said.

The question is whether similar mud exists or previously existed at the site. Coming closer to an answer, Phoenix scientists reported they had finished heating their first soil sample with another instrument, the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA).

As expected, they did not find any evidence of ice; the sample came from the top layer of soil, where frozen ice would have quickly vaporized, as it seemed to do last week.

But TEGA did produce a whiff of water vapor as well as carbon dioxide, implying that the soil was once exposed to liquid water. This confirms earlier findings from Phoenix's fellow surface explorers—the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, still operating at other locations on the Red Planet, have turned up evidence of minerals formed in the presence of water.

Phoenix scientists hope to use such data to determine where and when Martian life might find (or had found) a moist refuge. They are not certain whether the soil baked in TEGA has long been at its present location or whether winds may have blown it there from elsewhere on the planet.

The findings also do not yet paint a picture of the soil at different depths and locations. "It's only part of the story," Kounaves said. "We'll have to see the rest of the story."

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"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." - Dr. Seuss

It kinda fits in MG, after all I did say that microbes had invaded ;) I don't mind this kind of info here at all.

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If I can ever get a moments peace and find some free time here I'll start the updates again, but I have been awfully busy lately, so we'll see.

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I'm going to try to get some images tonight, but I can't make any promises.

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These are really excellent pictures! Maybe you can post some and let people take a guess at what it might be! But thanks! Any chance of seeing an ant??!!!

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http://www.therageclub.com

These are really excellent pictures! Maybe you can post some and let people take a guess at what it might be! But thanks! Any chance of seeing an ant??!!!

That's a good idea. An ant.... I can do that! My backyard is full of em.

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Sorry guys. I ended up getting caught up helping a friend fix his computer and ran out of time to do the updates :( I will try to force myself to set some time aside tomorrow to do it.

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I got some images of some bacteria last night. I am just messing with them to see if I can get them to turn out any clearer. I'll post em' tonight.

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It's been brought to my attention just how much I neglect this thread. No longer! I am going to start over, in a new thread.

If a mod could be kind enough to lock this topic for me I would be forever grateful.

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