The little monsters in our tank (Beware: Science Pictures Inside!!!)

[ScubaSteve]

A little while back I was staring at the glass in my tank watching these bugs smaller than a pinhead bomb around the glass at a pretty good pace. A quick back of the napkin calculation said that these little buggers were running around at the equivalent of a human running 150 km/hr! (~20x their body length per second) "What are these microscopic speed demons?", I thought.

So, doing what any other normal person would do, I spent half an hour trying to catch one, dried it, gold coated it, and tossed it in a scanning electron microscope (SEM).

This is what speed-racer looks like close up!

***I did this pretty quick and half-arsed, so pardon the dried salt crystals and other junk in the pics***

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad114/Nergetic/INS-1_zpsc3c99ba6.jpg (http://s927.photobucket.com/user/Nergetic/media/INS-1_zpsc3c99ba6.jpg.html)

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad114/Nergetic/INS-3_zpsa677c30a.jpg (http://s927.photobucket.com/user/Nergetic/media/INS-3_zpsa677c30a.jpg.html)

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad114/Nergetic/INS-2_zps251e671b.jpg (http://s927.photobucket.com/user/Nergetic/media/INS-2_zps251e671b.jpg.html)

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad114/Nergetic/INS-4_zpsa1f59081.jpg (http://s927.photobucket.com/user/Nergetic/media/INS-4_zpsa1f59081.jpg.html)

http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad114/Nergetic/INS-5_zps101b7a26.jpg (http://s927.photobucket.com/user/Nergetic/media/INS-5_zps101b7a26.jpg.html)

[Proteus]

So cool. And to think 150 million years ago those things were the size of a VW

[Zoaelite]

LIKE


Must be nice to have a SEM sitting aroun eh :razz:?

[Coralgurl]

sometimes I like not knowing...very cool photos but seriously ewww...

[TimT]

Thats pretty cool. Wish my truck went that fast lol.

[globaldesigns]

Very cool, but now I don't want to put my arms in the tank.

[ScubaSteve]

LIKE


Must be nice to have a SEM sitting aroun eh :razz:?

Hahaha. Ya, it's pretty sweet (I actually have 3 at my disposal). It's pretty fun putting random stuff in there while doing my actual work. This guy is pretty tame compared to some of the other stuff I've stuck in there.

I think next up is one of the million pods running around my tank.

[mseepman]

That was pretty awesome...would love to see a pod up close.

[Seth81]

Love it!

[Claudia]

Awesome pics, u should look for more little monsters so u can take pics and post them here for us :D

[PurpleMonkey]

So jealous of your SEM... Do you have access to a TEM as well?

[ScubaSteve]

So jealous of your SEM... Do you have access to a TEM as well?

I do! But I find them pretty unexciting:razz: For high mag work I prefer the FESEM. The SEM and FESEM are like cameras, where you can compose nice shots. TEM is like looking through one of the ghetto microscopes you used in grade 9 biology.

[es355lucille]

Very Cool, with my work I have seen corrosion deposits/scales under SEM but nothing THIS COOL!!!:biggrin:

[Graham_f]

so awesome.
Is it just me or does it look like it has two eyes and a smile in pictures # 5 and 6

:)

[Scythanith]

I'm in love with your 'scope. If someone were to have special requests for scans, would you be able to do them? Like if I wanted a couple scans to print and put up in the fish room, etc?

[chi]

Awesomesauce

Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk 4 Beta

[daplatapus]

That is so sweet! Thanks for sharing and keep 'em coming :D

[ScubaSteve]

I'm in love with your 'scope. If someone were to have special requests for scans, would you be able to do them? Like if I wanted a couple scans to print and put up in the fish room, etc?

Possibly, yes. If it's simple enough to slip in with my regular work I can do the odd one here and there. If you wanted to do something specialized and I needed to book the machine for a bit just to do that one sample, the machines cost $30 - 80 per hour (plus $30 set-up), depending on the machine (luckily most of the stuff you'd probably want to see would work fine on the cheap machine). Also depends on the sample as well. If it requires a lot of prep time, then we're talking about my time as well.

I'm happy to do them, just depends what it is :wink:

[ScubaSteve]

so awesome.
Is it just me or does it look like it has two eyes and a smile in pictures # 5 and 6

:)

I think those are actually eyes that you see there. The smile is proof evolution has a sense of humor :razz:

[Delphinus]

http://www.spaswimming.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/21991-science-raptor-raptors-meme-memes.png



So, what is this critter? Other than a really itty-bitty trilobite?

[asylumdown]

holy crap that's the coolest thing I've seen in years.

Please tell me you take requests?

[asylumdown]

literally I came on here to ask a question, saw this wicked cool thread, and have now completely forgotten what it was I came on here for. Geez. Science is cool.

[ScubaSteve]

holy crap that's the coolest thing I've seen in years.

Please tell me you take requests?

See post a couple back. Easy answer: it depends.

literally I came on here to ask a question, saw this wicked cool thread, and have now completely forgotten what it was I came on here for. Geez. Science is cool.

This happens to me pretty much every time I come on the internet. Typically goes like this: Photocatalysts... nanorods... quantum mechanics... 1 hr later... aquarium stufff... 3 hrs later... Batman and the filmography of Adam West...

[Scythanith]

http://www.spaswimming.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/21991-science-raptor-raptors-meme-memes.png

Shouldn't the raptor have some feathers on it? :)

[ScubaSteve]

Shouldn't the raptor have some feathers on it? :)

Nope, you're both wrong

http://psychotherapysphere.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/dinosaur_riding_shark_shooting_gunsized.jpg?w=500&h=371

[FishyFishy!]

Nope, you're both wrong



HAHAHAHAHAHAHA AWESOME

[Seth81]

This thread has officially made my day!

[asylumdown]

How small of an organism can you do? I've always wanted to see what a bed of cyano and it's associated fauna looks like under a scope like that. When I looked at my cyano under a microscope, it was as though several species of bacteria, dinos, and worms were using the cyano as a scaffold upon which they lived. It would be cool to get a super detailed image of an assemblage like that.

or small bristle worm. They're suuuuper intricate when you look at them under a microscope.

[seapony]

That is supper cool, thank you so much for shareing :) have you stuck any other critters under there?

[Maverick00]

very neat! thanks!

[christyf5]

Too awesome :cool: And you have a SEM and TEM. So jealous!! Our TEM at work was built in the 60s I think (ok probably later than that but cripes is it ever old) one of the EM techs that does the servicing collects parts for us as he comes across old ones that are to be decommissioned. Without him we'd be screwed.

[ScubaSteve]

Too awesome :cool: And you have a SEM and TEM. So jealous!! Our TEM at work was built in the 60s I think (ok probably later than that but cripes is it ever old) one of the EM techs that does the servicing collects parts for us as he comes across old ones that are to be decommissioned. Without him we'd be screwed.

Ha! We finally moth-balled one of our TEMs. I think it might have literally been twice my age (and I'm not that young). My SEM isn't much better :razz: