Web Stuff - interesting images for further explorations

Some of the most amazing microscopic images can be found on the internet. Since the internet can be a bit overwhelming, I'll list a few good ones right here! We welcome any input and ideas you have. You can reach us at hello@homeschoolscience.com.

Snowflakes Take a look at CalTech's snow crystal website: http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/ Amazing microphotos; snowflake physics and how they form; a history of snowflake science, and more. Don't miss the photo collection.

Microbes and Pond Water Critters I like Florida State University's site. It has micromovies of all these little critters! (It uses RealPlayer to view the movies. If you don't have Real Player, you can download it, free, from their website.) http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/moviegallery/pondscum.html This will give you a long list of microcritters, each with a few movies you can watch. Since there are so many, let me guide you to some of my favorites: AMOEBA - this is a one cell creature that can change its shape to nearly anything. Amoeba Video No. 2 - 22 seconds Amoeba Video No. 3 - 17 seconds   COLEPS Here coleps, a one celled creature, finds a dead one celled creature and decides it's time for lunch. Coleps Video No. 1 - 46 seconds (This is a great shot of a microbe eating)   EUGLENA - another one celled creature that can push itself around with a flagellum (a whip tail). E. rostrifera Video No. 1 - 55 seconds E. rostrifera Video No. 7 - 39 seconds   PARAMECIUM One of the most common single celled creatures. You are likely to find many in your "protozoa soup". Paramecium Video No. 1 - 25 seconds Paramecium Video No. 3 - 15 seconds (It's trying to eat)   STENTOR - named after the extreamly loud herald in the Iliad because of its trumpet shape. Stentor Video No. 1 - 44 seconds (Stentor juggles an amoeba) Stentor Video No. 5 - 8 seconds (Stentor stretches and recoils)   VOLVOX - latin for "roll". Take a look and you'll see why. Volvox is actually a colony of cells. Inside it, you can see new colonies forming (bright green). Volvox Video No. 1 - 14 seconds (A colony rolls past a bug) Find all these and many more through http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/moviegallery/pondscum.html

One more interesting microbe is the DIDINIUM, wolf of the microbe world. It hunts paramecia! See photos of a successful kill and meal, and an accompanying article, at: http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/art97/dingley3.html