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Weird & Miscellaneous

Weird & Miscellaneous

Weird & Miscellaneous

Price varies by image license. 

This collection has unusual images of the operation of the red Vireo bird claw, and aquatic insects all collected in Minnesota.

Product Description

Hundreds of millions of birds die each year from collisions with glass on buildings.  Biomimetic solutions are being employed to deal with this crisis.  https://asknature.org/idea/ornilux/#.XoIArtNKiuM

This red-eyed vireo was an unfortunate victim.  I had been curious about the bird claw mechanism.  The claw’s natural position is closed, so it may perch without using energy to hold itself in place.  I took the opportunity to take a closer look and investigate this mechanism.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/12/why-birds-can-sleep-on-branches-and-not-fall-off/281969/ “The bird’s foot closes and grasps automatically as the ankle and knee joints are bent,” we read. “This grasp cannot be released until the limb is straightened again.”

A sampling of aquatic insects was captured in a spring from Rice Creek in Fridley, Minnesota.  They were examined back at the lab using the Leica stereomicroscope.  The specimens were viewed in a petri dish with creek water.

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The image store is a collection of organisms that have been examined under a stereo light microscope (LM) and or scanning electron microscope (SEM). Each group of organisms has a short description and a longer more detailed description or story about the organism.  Clicking on the product group shows the individual images.  Each series takes the observer from macro to micro or nano on a particular organism, starting with a macro photographic image(s) for perspective, micro images taken by the light microscope, and most have micro to nano scanning electron microscope images.  The SEM images will appear in black and white as a beam of electrons is used to illuminate the specimen rather than light.  A few SEM images are colorized (lotus leaf).  More information about the labeling and techniques used is below.

For the curious:

The light microscope images are labeled LM and a Z is included if it is a vertical composite of images effectively extending the depth of field or EDF of the microscope.

SEM images are labeled by the type of detector use:

SE (secondary electron)

LSE (Low vacuum secondary electron)

BES (backscattered electron shadow mode)

BEC (backscattered electron compositional mode)

The SEM instrument works by producing a beam of electrons under a vacuum that interacts with the sample surface and subsurface producing different signals, as shown in the diagram at right.  Secondary electrons, backscattered electrons and x-rays are detected using different instrument modes.  In addition to morphological information to produce an image the SEM can determine elemental composition by energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS).

Personal/Educational License:
For personal or educational use only.  Images cannot be given or resold to others.

Commercial License:
For Profit or Non-profit business use within the organization, in presentations and publications with image credit.  No resale of images.

An image license does not grant exclusive rights to an image.  Lichen Labs retains the copywrite to all images.

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