Snowy fields and blood

Microscopy is really interesting, and I'm getting to do quite a lot of it these days. Everyone who have bought a nice camera (SLR or similar) can attest to the fact that macro photography is fascinating. Taking up close pictures of everyday things like food and writing utensils becomes really interesting. Just imagine what happens when you start looking at things through microscopes!

Sometimes I find it hard to believe that what I am seeing through the microscope is what is actually there. Especially cells and organelles (the small thingies (very scientific name) inside cells), which to me have mostly been like atoms and molecules - you know they're there, but you can't see them. But now, suddenly, I can - thanks to these magnifying wonders.

Today, I looked at food mold (the white and green fluffy stuff you find on food that has gone bad) through a microscope at a relatively low magnification. It was really pretty! I wish I had taken a picture of it so I could show you. It looked like hills covered in fluffy snow catching the morning sun. Really beautiful and almost magical. And then you look at it without the microscope, and the immediate reaction is yuck! It really is like two different worlds.

Red blood cells I saw in the lab.
The oval is a red blood cell on its side.

I have recently looked at blood through a microscope too, and that was also pretty awesome. I didn't know that we had that many red blood cells in our blood compared to the number of white blood cells! And I kind of didn't think that they would actually have the form that we associate with red blood cells - but they do! Little discs with a dent in the middle of each side - quite neat, if you ask me.

In short, nature is amazing and awesome in all scales - from the global to the microscopic. And it is elegant and wonderful and really interesting.