GMU:Introduction to Microscopy/Denise Nicoau: Difference between revisions

[[File:staining-specimen1.jpg|250px | positive stain]]

[[File:staining-specimen-negative.jpg|180px | negative stain]]

They are shaped like little trumpets and they are made up of a single cell but some of them are large enough to be seen by naked eye. Usually found in ponds or lakes (freshwater environments). '''Interesting feature''': they are remarkable for their regenerative power > when it is cut in half, each half is able to regenerate a half-sized cell that has its normal anatomy and will look the same way it did prior to being cut. There are green, blue and amethyst colored species.

==='''Hydras'''===

They are considered animals, predatory freshwaters microorgranisms; they can be found in ponds, lakek and other slow-moving waters. They feed on different creatures (e.g. insect larvae and small crustaceans) and they die only because of injuries, diseases, starvation or being eaten. '''Interesting feature''': they can develop a mutualistic relationship with algae > the hydra feed on things that would otherwise predate on the algae, while the algae produce photosynthetic compounds that can be utilized as a food source by the hydra. ♥️

==='''Diatoms'''===

Microalgae who generate about 40% of the oxygen produced on the planet each year. They are unicellular microorganisms and can take the shape of ribbons, starts, fans, zigzags and can be radially symmetric or bilaterally symmetric. You can find them in oceans, seas, lakes, streams and soils. They are commonly used in studies of water quality.

''18/11/2020''

You can modify your light microscopy by adding a ''polarizer'', positioned before the specimen, and an ''analyzer'' placed between the objective and the observation tubes.

They are brainless unicells, but they can learn and somehow make decisions. They pulse and through the microscope you can see streams which serve to transfer food inside them. Several scientist and artists have been conducting researches about slime molds and the way they behave, to apply some of their mechanisms to the computational field.