Diatom

I'm glad that you are enjoying the blog. Keep checking back; there may be more that you like.

Thanks for the link.
Many mini-projects you've got there.

Most of the microbes I collect are from a small pond that dries up when it doesn't rain for several weeks, but comes back again when it rains. You might like to take a look at an entry on my blog dated May 4, 2012

http://wizardofelton.blogspot.com/2012/0...

One question, where do you find and collect all these microbes ?

Lori.tas, make sure to get a green one, red ones aren't as useful for it. I got mine for around $12 and it's totally worth it. I just wish my point and shoot camera could take better video in the dark, I can't really record what I see when I set it up.

I just wanted to point out that algae hadn't been *completely* overlooked. Western Australia has two of these "Pepto pink" salt lagoon areas. Unfortunately no one has thought to build a tower for taking photos. Standing on my hood was the best I could manage. If you zoom in on Google Earth you can see the one I saw pretty well.

I like your algae photos better, Elton.

Of course, now I have to buy a laser.

lori.tas ... I guess I need a bigger camera!

I posted algae; a whole lagoon's worth. http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/403...

Most definitely--I'd say it's one of the reasons why it's so fun. It's a simple setup, but with marvelous results.

I wasn't familiar with the laser technique so I followed the link you provided. That is really fascinating. It has a certain van Leeuwenhoek quality about it, don't you think?

It's great to see some algae being represented! I definitely don't know as much as I should about these guys. Also, this is a neat experiment to do with algae and a laser: http://hackaday.com/2010/08/21/laser-mic.... I got it to work after about a half hour of tinkering, and it was just mesmerizing.