MicroSafari – Stentor the MicroTrumpeter

This episode of my Microsafari series features one of the most distinctive single celled protists - Stentor! Watch this video and learn why I call it the "MicroTrumpeter". I hope you enjoy this foray into the micro world and feel free to share this with all the young (or old!) science lovers in your life!

The entire series can be found on my YouTube Channel.

MicroSafari – Snakes on a Slide!

With apologies to Samuel L. Jackson's film "Snakes on A Plane," I could not help but title this Microsafari episode "Snakes on a Slide" because that is what most of my students think of when they see the long snakelike ciliate protozoan named Spirostomum. As you'll see in the video they hold a world record and are important in many aquatic ecosystems! 

I am creating these Microsafari explorations to open up a new world of science exploration to young people --- please feel free to share these with the young scientists in your life as well as with any science teachers you know! It's greatly appreciated! If you want to find more Microsafari stuff- I'm using the hashtag #MICROSAFARI to allow folks to follow & share these more easily! 

MicroSafari – Up Close With Paramecium

This installment in my MicroSafari series focuses on the famous single celled ciliate Paramecium. Most students never get to see a good up close view of what actually is happening inside a paramecium because they tend to move very quickly and appear as “herky jerky” blurs to most folks unless you place them in a solution of “ProtoSlo” (methyl cellulose – I call it jello for microorganisms). This keeps them from swimming so fast and lets us see them in one spot where a higher power lens can focus on their internal activities such a food vacuole formation (eating) and contractile vacuole filling and contraction (drinking & peeing). When you get close enough to these creatures to see these things, you also get to appreciate their cilia and how quickly they beat. So – take a couple minutes and get up close with this most famous citizen of the microworld! 

Congratulation to my friends at EXO LABS ( www.exolabs.com) who created the FOCUS Microscope Camera I use  for these videos - the FOCUS camera was recently featured in Apple's 30th anniversary video for the Mac - at 38 seconds into the video you can see students using the FOCUS camera with an  iPad to view what's under their microscope! 

Way to go Exo!

WELCOME TO THE MICROWORLD!

I am pleased to begin sharing another way I really enjoy seeing our natural world. These days, many folks feel there is little left to explore. They feel there are none of the great romantic “blank areas on the map” that so enticed earlier generations of explorers. While there are certainly fewer unexplored spaces, there is a way that everyday folks can explore the natural world without traveling to the ends of the earth. I have long been thrilled by the adventures and excitement that Mother Nature shares in the microscopic world. Over the years, I've enjoy exploring many “MicroWorlds” with my students as they appreciate the “WOW Factor” of the seemingly invisible world all around us. While most Blue Lion Blog readers know that I treasure my African safari experiences, I have the ability to go on a different type of safari most every day! I deem my safaris under the microscope “MicroSafaris” as we get to explore all sorts of microscopic creatures who can appear with no predetermined script. For 21^st century students who have the digital world at their fingertips, seeing these “unknown” critters changes how they look at their worlds and opens up a new found sense of creativity and possibility.

Over the past few months I have gotten to know the dedicated folks over at EXOLABS (www.exolabs.com), a Seattle based startup. They have created a wonderful iPad based camera that is designed to work with any microscope. After having worked with other less successful microscope cameras/software, their FOCUS microscope camera is the tool I have long sought to help share my passion for microworlds with you. Over the coming months I will be creating a series of MicroSafari videos to introduce you to various denizens of the microworld. Following that, we’ll begin to expand our exploration as we head out to see differing microscopic ecosystems and how their micro citizens go about their “little lives”

I chose this first video because it’s the microscopic creature most folks are familiar with – AMOEBA!  If you’ve ever looked through a microscope in school then you probably got to see these blob like protists. Here I have been able to capture them in both real time and time-lapse video to give you a uniquely exciting view.  Enjoy the view and please feel encouraged to share this video with a young person in your life!