The Kid Should See This

Tiny organisms illuminated with polarized light

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In Life in a Different Light, above, Denmark-based YouTuber and microscopy enthusiast My Microscopic World uses polarized light to illuminate microscopic creatures. The footage was taken with an iPhone mounted on a modified microscope with a LabCam adapter.

polarized light microscopy
The results are vivid and revealing “due to a phenomenon called birefringence” or double refraction.

“One type of organism that reacts well to the polarized light is insect larvae. This is because the exoskeleton of these animals is made of a birefringent polymer called chitin. As the larvae move, each individual body segment gets aligned differently in the polarized light, which makes it look like the segments are changing colors.”

polarized light microscopy
polarized light microscopy

The video’s music is by Anima (Derek Marquez). Find more from My Microscopic World’s videos and images on Instagram.

Then observe more microscopic worlds in these videos on TKSST: Para Films’ The Plankton Chronicles, Microscope video of a Limnias melicerta (a rotifer), and the microscopic work of Sally Warring.

Plus: The Foldscope – A Paper Microscope that Costs $1.

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