Microscopic Fun

Throughout the semester we've had the opportunity to use microscopes in our lab classes. We were told to bring half a bottle of pond water to class one day to look at protists underneath the microscope. What one girl had was absolutely incredible and adorable. In her bottle was a salamander in the larva stage, with developing gills, forelimbs and hind limb "buds." It was amazing to see how he had developed so far and to think about all the changes he still had to go through on his way to adulthood. He wasn't very big, probably only a little over one inch long, and even though you could see things about him without the microscope looking at him under it was incredible. All the details you can't see with the naked eye were suddenly there until he decided he wanted to swim out from under the lens. Working with microscopes is one of my favorite things to do in class and it's always interesting. There's never any dull moments.

http://m5.i.pbase.com/o4/76/500676/1/134213525.ardrZLbv.genericsalamanderlifecycle.jpg

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