Issue 22 - June 2011
Includes: Microscopy for the Built Environment, Written in Water, Arty Insects and Education & Outreach: Using Local Libraries.
in this issue...
Microscopy for the Built Environment - Jeremy Ingham
Geomaterials such as concrete, stone, brick and asphalt are of huge economic importance to the global construction industry. Microscopy has been used to investigate building stone for over 150 years by geologists as part of the discipline of ‘petrography’. This article reviews the application of petrography to various stages of the construction material life cycle starting with resource assessment and quality assurance, through to in-service condition surveys, forensic engineering of failures and the conservation of historic buildings.
Written in Water - Martyn Kelly
There is a dilemma facing all who study the microscopic world: to learn about the way these worlds are constructed and how they work, one first has to wrench the world apart, flatten its components under a cover slip and view them at light intensities far exceeding anything they encounter naturally. Freshwater ecologists risk losing any sense of the complexities of the systems they study. Regaining this perspective requires a leap of imagination akin to that which drove early palaeontologists to start depicting dinosaurs as living animals.
Education & Outreach: Using Local Libraries
Michael Gibson wanted to stage a regular series of school holiday events that would be of interest to library visitors, both young and old alike. He wanted to provide activities that would be exciting and hands on, and, being secretary of Northamptonshire Natural History Society’s microscopy group, he decided perhaps something to do with microscopes might form a suitable topic for development.
Read his report...
Arty Insects
The idea for the subject of insects came to Winston Ingram after talking to a school teacher friend about capturing the interest of children in science type subjects. The friend suggested a good picture book might do the trick and so Winston gave him two of the original books he had produced.
Winston is currently working on a book specifically concerning insects and this article features some of his work.
PLUS... News, Events Calendar, Book Reviews, Websites worth a look,
New Product information & much more!
