#polarized light microscope

[labnic235]

Polarizing Microscope

Polarizing Microscope has an infinity plan optical system with a Siedentopf trinocular head and a 30° inclination. The microscope consists of a quadruple backward revolving nosepiece, BF + DF objectives, and a micrometer eyepiece. It has a round working stage with coaxial coarse and fine focusing types. An Abbe swing-out 1.25-aperture condenser and halogen as a light source are incorporated.

[mineralsrocksandfossiltalks]

Wordplay Wednesday: Glass

You’ve likely heard the word glass before and you automatically think of windows or fancy cups. Today, I want to discuss volcanic glass. First, let’s talk about what it is not: a mineral. Minerals are naturally occurring, solid, inorganic substance, having a specific chemical composition and an ordered crystalline structure. Glass is non-crystalline but amorphous meaning it has no defined structure. It occurs naturally as the result of rapid cooling of molten rock. While it can have a specific chemical composition, it’s not as ordered.

There are many types of volcanic glass depending on its composition just like with any other igneous rocks. Obsidian is the type most commonly referred to as volcanic glass. It is rhyolitic meaning high in silica.

Another well-known glass is pumice. It may not seem glassy but it does not have a crystal structure and if you look at it under a high-powered microscope you would be able to see that it is a bunch of glass fragments melded together and filled with holes.

Tachylyte is a type of basaltic glass with relatively low silica content. It’s typically a brownish color.

Pitchstone is an acidic volcanic glass similar to obsidian but with more water.

All volcanic glasses are chemically unstable and readily decompose, reacting with water and precipitating secondary minerals. This leads to altered ash beds like bentonite.

Because of its amorphous nature, if you look at grains of glass under a petrographic microscope it will disappear under cross-polarized light.

Thanks for coming to today’s lesson and tune in tomorrow to learn about the oldest igneous rocks on earth. Fossilize you later!

[starrysturnz]

where the love light gleams

pairing. vampire!matt sturniolo x human!reader

summary. matt hasn’t celebrated a holiday in decades. a lonely, unfulfilling existence is nothing to be cheerful about, in his book. but there’s something different about this particular christmas— he’s not quite so lonely anymore.

warnings. mention of the death of a parent, an unserious joke about domestic violence, somewhat sensual toward the end?? angst if you smear this fic on a glass slide and look at it through a microscope.

word count. 1k

author’s note. OKAY SO i apologize for the fact that the only fic from this countdown that was posted on time was the first one… 20% success rate :D basically i’ve learned to pre-write anything i plan to release on a specific date lol. anyways i was traveling and then i got sick sooo not ideal conditions to focus on writing. thanks for sticking with me on this tho! i hope u like this one as much as i do!! kisses :3

masterlist | taglist | starrysturnz’s christmas countdown

© starrysturnz. all rights reserved. dividers by @cafekitsune.

it was the perfect evening. firewood crackling in its hearth, the smell of half-baked cookies wafting in from the kitchen, and polar express playing on the tv as y/n lay cuddled up under her favorite fuzzy blanket with her boyfriend, matt.

his fingers toyed lazily with her (admittedly, ugly) sweater as she laid her temple against his shoulder. tilting her head up to admire his face— his strong jaw, his striking eyes— she said, “i can’t believe you’ve never seen this movie before. it’s a classic.”

his head turned slowly to face her, eyes lagging behind on the screen for a second before speaking, “just never really been into christmas movies, i guess.”

there was a hint of something hidden in his voice… amusement, maybe? like he knew something she didn’t. y/n got that vibe from him occasionally— like she was on the receiving end of an inside joke that she wasn’t a part of— but she mostly chose to ignore it. today, however, the urge to pry won her over.

“how come? your family didn’t celebrate holidays growing up or something?”

it was an innocent question, matt knew. he’d expected she might be intrigued by his utter lack of knowledge regarding common christmas traditions. this was their first big holiday together, and she was entitled to some curiosity. but he couldn’t tell her the truth… yet. it wasn’t exactly the time.

besides, the honest answer was a real mood killer— how could he tell her he’d spent the better part of the last century avoiding holiday festivities at all costs? that he didn’t see any reason to celebrate his miserable, cursed existence? way too much explaining, so not enough time. plus, it made him seem all dark and self-loathing, and while yeah, that might’ve been the case, he felt it was far too accurate to edward from the twilight franchise… and being compared to that idiot in any capacity made him want to stake himself.

so instead, he offered her his prepared answer: “no, no, it’s not that. just, i dunno… my mom passed around the holidays when i was young, and it sort of overshadowed the magic of it all, y’know?”

it was the perfect fib— just dark enough to be believable without leaving room for any follow-up questions. and it’s not like it was a total lie; matt’s mother really had died around christmas when he was a boy, and it did put a damper on his holiday spirit.

y/n’s expression softened into one of genuine empathy, and she mustered her best comforting smile. “’m sorry. that must’ve been really difficult.”

“’s okay, that was a long time ago. besides, now i get to experience all your creepy CGI movies for the first time right next to you, so it all worked ou— hey!”

matt rubbed the assaulted spot on his arm as if her little swat had actually hurt at all. (truthfully, he suspected that not even a human would’ve been bothered by her attack.)

“i’ll have you know this movie is a staple from my childhood,” she stated matter-of-factly. “so be nice, or else next halloween i’m making you watch monster house.”

⁺⁎˚

“the cookies should be ready by now, don’t y’think, love?” matt asked, nudging his girlfriend ever so gently in the ribs, making her giggle. “i might not be a christmas expert, but santa can’t visit if the place has burned down, can he?”

“yeah, yeah. i’ll go get them, you stay here,” she ordered.

moments later, y/n was padding back into the living room on her bare tiptoes— the only part her leg warmers didn’t cover— with a decorative reindeer plate full of warm strawberry jam cookies, lightly dusted with powdered sugar. she situated herself back under the blanket, setting the plate on her lap.

matt, eager to try one of the delicacies, reached for the one on the top, only to have his hand smacked away by an irritated y/n.

“ah! do i need to call the cops on you for domestic violence? because you just love hitting me today, hm?”

“only when you do stupid stuff. hands to yourself, silly.”

“but then how am i supposed to…”

his words trailed off as she lifted a cookie between two fingers, raising a brow at him expectantly.

“oh,” he grinned cutely, opening his mouth. his eyes fell shut of their own accord as the treat pushed past his lips, and he found himself savoring the taste. matt never really believed in love as an ingredient in baked goods, but he had to admit, he could taste it in y/n’s food every time.

“so?”

“they’re incredible, darling. really delicious, seriously.” his smile widened at her pleased expression, clearly happy with herself for having impressed him. not that she had to try very hard. “if i grab one of these, are you gonna hit me again?”

“mm. i guess not.”

matt’s hands reached into her lap, snagging the plate from her entirely, setting it atop his own legs.

“hey, wha—”

“sh,” he quieted her protests with a whisper, grabbing a cookie and admiring the adorable heart-shaped design for a second before his eyes flitted up to her face. the corners of his lips quirked up just barely, and then his free hand was softly gripping her jaw. “open up.”

y/n obeyed almost immediately, save for the half-second she spent processing what had just happened. then, she was chewing on the warm pastry, practically melting in matt’s grasp as his thumb swiped at the edge of her mouth to clean the powdered sugar there.

“good?” he asked after a beat. she swallowed.

“mhm.”

“told you,” he teased, now setting the plate on the coffee table and pulling the girl into his lap instead. he heard her heartbeat pick up in her chest, and he placed a soft kiss against her cheek just to hear it skip once. the movie on the tv had been long forgotten.

y/n’s arms wrapped around his shoulders securely, a happy sigh escaping her lips.

“merry christmas, matt.”

for the first time in many years, matt found himself smiling at those words. he held her tightly against his chest.

“merry christmas, darling.”

taglist: @toslayy @stylessuperwhore @sofieeeeex

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Doubling down on metasurfaces: Bilayer device can control many forms of polarized light

Almost a decade ago, Harvard engineers unveiled the world's first visible-spectrum metasurfaces—ultra-thin, flat devices patterned with nanoscale structures that could precisely control the behavior of light. A powerful alternative to traditional, bulky optical components, metasurfaces today enable compact, lightweight, multifunctional applications ranging from imaging systems and augmented reality to spectroscopy and communications. Now, researchers in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) are doubling down, literally, on metasurface technology by creating a bilayer metasurface, made of not one, but two stacked layers of titanium dioxide nanostructures. Under a microscope, the new device looks like a dense array of stepped skyscrapers.

Read more.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

New SpaceTime out Monday

SpaceTime 20250505 Series 28 Episode 54

Discovery of a vast molecular cloud next door

Astronomers have discovered a vast invisible molecular gas and dust cloud near our solar system.

Jupiter’s giant polar cyclones under the microscope

New data from NASA’s Juno mission is shedding fresh light on the fierce winds and cyclones raging in the far north of the gas giant Jupiter and the extreme volcanic action on its fiery moon Io.

A Russian spacecraft about to crash back to Earth

A failed Soviet era spacecraft designed to land on the planet Venus is about to crash back to Earth.

The Science Report

83.7% of the world’s coral reef area now impacted by heat stress.

Taking cannabis gives you a higher risk of heart attack.

The unexpected evolutionary history of echidnas and platypuses.

Skeptics guide to the South Carolina ghost lanterns.

SpaceTime covers the latest news in astronomy & space sciences.

The show is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through your favourite podcast download provider or from www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com

SpaceTime is also broadcast through the National Science Foundation on Science Zone Radio and on both i-heart Radio and Tune-In Radio.

SpaceTime daily news blog: http://spacetimewithstuartgary.tumblr.com/

SpaceTime facebook: www.facebook.com/spacetimewithstuartgary

SpaceTime Instagram @spacetimewithstuartgary

SpaceTime twitter feed @stuartgary

SpaceTime YouTube: @SpaceTimewithStuartGary

SpaceTime -- A brief history

SpaceTime is Australia’s most popular and respected astronomy and space science news program – averaging over two million downloads every year. We’re also number five in the United States.  The show reports on the latest stories and discoveries making news in astronomy, space flight, and science.  SpaceTime features weekly interviews with leading Australian scientists about their research.  The show began life in 1995 as ‘StarStuff’ on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) NewsRadio network.  Award winning investigative reporter Stuart Gary created the program during more than fifteen years as NewsRadio’s evening anchor and Science Editor.  Gary’s always loved science. He was the dorky school kid who spent his weekends at the Australian Museum. He studied astronomy at university and was invited to undertake a PHD in astrophysics, but instead focused on a career in journalism and radio broadcasting. Gary’s radio career stretches back some 34 years including 26 at the ABC. His first gigs were spent as an announcer and music DJ in commercial radio, before becoming a journalist, and eventually joining ABC News and Current Affairs. He was part of the team that set up ABC NewsRadio and became one of its first on air presenters. When asked to put his science background to use, Gary developed StarStuff which he wrote, produced and hosted, consistently achieving 9 per cent of the national Australian radio audience based on the ABC’s Nielsen ratings survey figures for the five major Australian metro markets: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth. That compares to the ABC’s overall radio listenership of just 5.6 per cent. The StarStuff podcast was published on line by ABC Science -- achieving over 1.3 million downloads annually.  However, after some 20 years, the show finally wrapped up in December 2015 following ABC funding cuts, and a redirection of available finances to increase sports and horse racing coverage.  Rather than continue with the ABC, Gary resigned so that he could keep the show going independently.  StarStuff was rebranded as “SpaceTime”, with the first episode being broadcast in February 2016.  Over the years, SpaceTime has grown, more than doubling its former ABC audience numbers and expanding to include new segments such as the Science Report -- which provides a wrap of general science news, weekly skeptical science features, special reports looking at the latest computer and technology news, and Skywatch – which provides a monthly guide to the night skies. The show is published three times weekly (every Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and available from the United States National Science Foundation on Science Zone Radio, and through both i-heart Radio and Tune-In Radio.

[rocks-in-space]

Probably the most gorgeous twinning I've ever seen. Microcline in cross-polarized light exhibiting plaid/cross-hatched twinning.

[Image ID: a close-up photo of a rock thin section viewed through a microscope showing grains in shades of brown and gray. end ID]

[andreea-kira03]

Cummingtonite

A metamorphic amphibole, rich in iron, formed under intense pressure and temperature. Under the polarizing microscope, it reveals pleochroic shades of brown to green, shifting with the angle — like hidden layers exposed only when the light hits just right.

It was daytime when I came to you — not night, not hidden in shadows, but everything between us felt darker, deeper, heavier.

You asked me if I ever loved you.

I said yes. And I meant it.

But I didn’t stay.

The truth is... when you dropped your guard, when I saw the flicker of fear behind your eyes, the weight in your voice, the rawness you tried to hide — that’s when I felt everything. Desire. Confusion. Lust. Love.

And that darker side of you, the one you let slip through the cracks that day…

That’s what undid me.

That’s what turned me on more than anything else ever did.

You apologized for how you were. But you didn’t need to.

Because I understood you — maybe more than anyone ever did.

It was you, exactly like that, that pulled me in so deep it scared me.

You didn’t do anything wrong.

I just wasn’t ready to face the way you made me feel.

So I ran — not from you, but from myself.

From the fire you lit in me that day.

And I want you to know this:

Thank you.

For not hiding.

For showing me more of who you truly are — not the version the world sees, but the one that burns quietly underneath.

Thank you for letting me see that side, raw and powerful.

You didn’t just open me — you revealed me to myself.

Even if it took time, I see it now. You were right.

Now I’m no longer afraid of myself for losing control.

Now you have the power to control me.

Now I understand.

What we have doesn’t need to be explained.

It doesn’t fit in neat boxes or soft definitions.

It’s ours.

Wild, wordless, and burning.

No strings. No cages. Just high temperature and pressure.

And if, one day, you find yourself there again —

unguarded, wanting, dark and real —

know that I might already be watching.

Still waiting.

Still dreaming about the exact moment your hands will find my neck again.

No questions asked, no strings attached.

[instruth]

CAMOUFLAGE

A disguise to hide from others

predators or enemies

by illumination or colors

in combination to blend in

with the environment

A natural phenomenon

for both preys and predators

to avoid detection,

color change with pigments

or with physical features

Octopus bears

microscopic pigments

called biochromes that

absorb and reflect light

to change its real color

Others, such as polar bears

have specific physical structures

in their hairs that scatter

light of all colors

to make them appear white

Chameleons change their colour

to hide and to reflect their moods

A group of zebras looks like

a large mass to a lion

to protect the herd

Predators like leopards and tigers

have this disruptive coloration

that helps in moving or hiding

in between the branches

before attacking its prey

Some blend well

with their surroundings

by color, texture and shape,

seen in insects like spiders,

leaf butterfly, dragonfly, katydid,

Most animals copycat or mimic

other animals to fool and escape

from their predators

in appearance or behaviour

or by sound and odor

Viceroy butterflies mimic

the monarch species

to safeguard them from their predators,

like birds that avoid monarch butterflies

as they are poisonous

There are other examples

of camouflage:

Owl, Uroplatus Gecko,

Toads, Seahorse, Frog, Spider,

Stick Insect, and Snow Leopard.

wild life survival

humans use intelligence

to save face and kill

©Johnny J P Lee

14 May 2024

HAIBUN (Gogyoshiren / Haiku)

Photo Credit: Selection from my album

(Photographer Unknown)

[lestatdelioncoeur]

Free Day ~ Tears

@vamptember

Fareed indulged Armand's fascination for the laboratory. He liked to observe him as he looked at everything. His questions betrayed an eye for detail and so Fareed laid out samples, traces, that Armand would inspect under one of the many powerful microscopes.

"And when we cry", said Armand - "what is it? That we weep at all is a wonder, and all I can do since my reconciliation with Marius. Is it purifying, as it's said to be for mortals? These tears of joy, are they some blessing? Am I to be discharged from grief?"

"Give me one of those linen handkerchiefs of yours", said Fareed "and I'll show you real beauty". Armand took the fabric from his pocket. He'd dried his eyes with it that evening and it was still a little damp with bloodied tears. "When a mortal weeps, those tears are clear are they not?" Armand nodded. Fareed continued, "under a microscope and in certain lights those tears are many coloured - a stained glass snowflake in each drop". "Now look at this", he ushered Armand over to the microscope and adjusted it as he looked at the fabric. Armand was dazzled.

Armand returned to his rooms, he had been painting again recently and it revived him. He reflected for a while on all that he'd grieved and when the tears returned he picked up his brush. He dabbed at his cheek with the bristles and as the drops fell, he made a faint icon of Marius blush pink on the page.

"Come", he led Marius into the laboratory. Fareed smiled at them and stepped back from the microscope - it was all set up. Marius lowered his face to the eyepiece and gasped. "Amadeo!" he whispered. "You have rendered my whole soul in miniature, my love in light and colour!" Armand smiled, "my heart". Marius embraced him; kissed his lashes and perfect cheeks.

"He's named it Communion", Fareed said gently.

To see the effect described, watch this short:

[kucherovv]

now that im doing the entire process im actually really fucking with petrography (looking at rlly small parts of rocks under microscopes in various light polarizations). theres something so enjoyable about taking a mineral, powdering it, making a slide, then using the stuff ive learned over the semester to make observations. i havent been feeling like im learning a lot in mineralogy but i really am.

this is a mineral from my midterm project so idk what it is yet but it looked gorg under the microscope

[pluralsword]

instant improvement in mood learning:

Mantis shrimp usually mate with multiple partners, although there are cases in which they mate with one partner for life.

mantis shrimp are poly and sometimes partner for life aaaaaaaaaaaaaa

they also communicate by spinning light waves and are the only species known to do this

Researchers now show that mantis shrimp—which actually look more like small lobsters—can tell when light is circularly, rather than linearly, polarized. That means that the electric field twists like a corkscrew as the light ray moves. The corkscrew can twist right or left—or, in biological terms, be right- or left-handed.

The researchers found that some of the eyes’ light-sensing cells doubled up as filters, explains Tom Cronin of UMBC. The cells have microscopic structures, like bristles of a toothbrush, that slightly slow light with electric fields parallel to the bristles, but not light with fields that are perpendicular. As a result, the twist of a circularly polarized wave will be flattened into a steady, linearly polarized wiggle, which another layer of sensory cells can then detect. Depending on their arrangement, bristled cells will select right- or left-handed polarization. This parsing enables mantis shrimp to distinguish the two types of light.

craving some (wlw / mutualist) mantis shrimp multimodal robot polycule cuteness

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Crystal of a topical medicine for wart treatment named ABE, which is available in Poland. The dew was blown on a microscope slide with a straw and was captured in a single frame. Retarder and a two-cross polarization filter were used to bring out the colors.

By Shyam Rathod (India)

Light Microscopy Awards

[nyupreservation]

Peiyuan Sun's Internship Highlights

Hi, I am Peiyuan Sun (锫瑗 孙). I am a graduate student at the Conservation Center, Institute of Fine Arts, NYU. I have been working as a Conservation Fellow under the supervision of Preventive Conservator Jessica Pace at the Barbara Goldsmith Preservation & Conservation Department of NYU Libraries since September 2022. Upon completion of my internship in June, I will graduate with an M.A. in Art History and M.S. in Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. In other words, by the time you see this Tumblr post, I will have finished my four-year-long studies and work! I am really grateful for working in the Department. In this Tumblr post, I will review the highlights of the past 9 months and 22 days.

Setting up a polarizing light microscope

My first mission was to build a LEICA polarizing light microscope from parts and modules. I was a little surprised at first. I had used microscopes but I had never had to build one worth thousands of dollars. And there were two manuals because the microscope would be made with parts from two different models: the stage and illuminator were from DM750 P, and the reflected light unit was DM750 M. It turned out to be straightforward and only took me and Jessica a morning to put everything together (fig. 1). 

Figure 1. Me and the microscope.

The next challenge was to write instructions for beginner microscopists because both LEICA manuals assumed that their users are microscopists. To make sure that the instructions are clear to beginners in microscopy, I compiled my notes into 29 pages of step-by-step instructions with many color illustrations. The manual was printed and kept with the microscope in a binder. Not a professional microscopist myself, I found this exercise inspiring, pointing me to the large body of knowledge in microscopy that was still waiting for me to explore. 

The microscope can be used in the material identification of fibers, pigments, and other particles. While other recent developments in analytical technologies made polarized light microscopy seem so primitive, a polarizing light microscope is still a beloved, simple, and powerful tool for conservators. Sometimes identification dictates how people should handle an object. For example, blue asbestos fibers are characterized by their needle-like appearance and pale blue birefringence color under transmitted cross-polarized light (fig. 2). While asbestos is an obsolete fill material with health hazard issues, they can surprisingly show up in a collection. If the fibers are loose on an object, the people handling it should take extra precautions to prevent inhaling the fibers (wearing personal protection equipment such as gloves, mask, goggles, and lab coat). 

Figure 2. Blue asbestos fibers under transmitted crossed-polarized light.

Kathe Burkhard’s “Gold Fan”

The first object to treat was a painted and gilded paper folding fan made by Kathe Burkhard (1958–), an American painter, writer, and art critic. The fan is covered in gold-colored metal leaves and thick layers of transparent resin which hardened and froze the fan in its open position. Burkhard transformed a cheap paper fan into a gold fan glimmering in thick coatings that look like honey-colored amber. She wrote in white paint “truths” on the one side, and “Lies” on the other side (fig. 3).

Figure 3. The “Gold Fan” before treatment.

The fan had several issues when it came to the care of the Department. The fan’s paper leaves were torn and its gold-colored metal leaves were peeling off the paper (fig. 4). The surface was also covered with dust and grime that darkened colors. 

Figure 4. Details of the torn paper fan before treatment.

With the goal to stabilize the fan and improve its appearance, we decided to close the fractures, put down the lifted metal leaves, and reduce the surface dust and grime. I used wheat starch paste to adhere to the torn edges, and I used small strong magnets to press the joints together while the starch paste dried and cured. Adhering a small part each time, I worked along each fracture, and back and forth between the two sides to make sure things align correctly. There was one tear that went along a fold line of the fan. The two sides of the tear had little overlap for adhesion, like the two halves of a malfunctioned lifted bridge. I used a strip of Japanese paper coated with starch paste and a synthetic adhesive called methylcellulose to mend this tear––now I put an extra bridge over the broken one to hold the two sides together.

I introduced gelatin solution as an adhesive to reattach the leaves to the paper. And after the leaves were secured, I used dry pre-washed cosmetic sponges to clean the surface. I cut my sponges into tiny wedges so that I can maneuver a small piece between and over fragile metal leaves. After the treatment, the fan’s paper structure was more stable, and its surface recovered some of its past glitter (fig. 5 & 6).

Figure 5. Details of the torn area after treatment.

Figure 6. The “Gold Fan” after treatment.

Rehousing objects from the David Wojnarowicz Papers MSS.092

Organizing objects crowded in a box can give conservators headaches. When I opened “box 139”, I did not know how many objects were there. It was only after taking a documenting photograph, I realized that 28 objects were crammed into one archival box (fig. 7). They are made of various materials, including metal, plastic, fabric, stone, and glass. These random things were collected by American artist David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992). Some were used as props for his photographs. For example, I noticed that a clock face, “object 092.2.0492”, with Roman numbers might be featured in his 1988 photo Untitled (Time/Money) in the Ant Series (fig. 8). 

My mission is to identify the plastic objects and separate them from the rest of the objects. Apart from visual observation, I used Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to analyze materials that are suspected to be plastic. This analysis can be used as a non-destructive method. The object’s material of interest could be clamped down against the analysis window on the stage to gain data (fig. 9). Yet not all objects could be fitted onto the stage. Because the machine was intended for industrial use, where samples are usually in powder (such as drugs), the space between the stage and the built-in clamp is limited. The analysis also requires that the surface of the object be pressed against the window on the stage. The pressure can also leave tiny impression marks on some objects due to the clamping. So while the analysis may be non-destructive, it might damage the object. 

Though identifying plastics with FTIR was fun, the most interesting part for me was driving a polyester encapsulation system with an ultrasonic generator and motor control. The instrument allowed me to create 35 small Mylar pockets custom-made for the objects. “Object 092.2.0504” consists of small charms (34 metal pendants and 1 feather). Before rehousing, they were stuffed in a small bag made of bubble wrap and brown pressure-sensitive tapes. After rehousing, each charm was snuggly fitted in its pocket (fig. 10). A visitor can easily see both sides of the charms by handling the Mylar sleeves.

Figure 7. Objects from the David Wojnarowicz Papers. 

Figure 8. David Wojnarowicz. 1988. Untitled (Time + Money). Photographs. Gelatin silver print on paper.

Figure 9. FTIR analysis of a scarecrow candy container manufactured by the E. Rosen Company at Rosbro Plastics in the 1950s. The cardboard was added to support bigger objects on the stage.

Figure 10. Charms rehoused in Mylar pockets.

Conservation of Balinese Shadow Puppets in the Mabou Mines Archive MSS 133.

I first knew about the project of the shadow puppets from my supervisor Jessica on September 23rd, 2022. I thought it would be another rehousing project. I did not know that I would study, research, and work on the puppets till the last day of my internship. The project included research, artist interviews, treatment, and rehousing.

The 40 shadow puppets (133.2.0023 through 133.2.0053) were mostly made for MahabharANTa, written by Lee Breuer and performed in 1992 in the United States. The story is a battle between the animals and insects on the White House lawn. The puppets are flat shapes attached to wooden and bamboo handles. 6 puppets were made of paper materials, and the rest were made of painted rawhide. Balinese shadow puppet master (dalang in Balinese) I Wayan Wija made all the rawhide puppets in Bali. The puppets have fragile paints that needed consolidation. They also needed rehousing because they were originally sandwiched in flimsy paper folders and piled in two boxes. 

If you are interested to learn more about his project, a recording of my presentation on the project is available through this link. Here, I want to tell you some things that are not in the treatment reports or my presentation.

An episode before everything began was taking the documentation photos of the puppets, some of which measure 26 to 28 inches long, and some have multiple moveable arms, jaws, and even antennae. Photographing colorful objects could be hard for the background color must be right. I first opted for black, the default color of the background paper already set up in the photo room. I soon realized that many puppets have black parts and all of them have dark outlines, which happily blended in with the black background. Then I tried neutral grey, a color that conservators love. The issue was that a similar grey was used on the puppets. The grey areas can be mistaken for hollow places (fig. 11). Finally, I decided to use white as my background. There was no white background paper in the photo room. Fortunately, there are plenty of white things in a book and paper conservation lab. I used a large piece of Artcare foam core as my white background (fig. 12). I regretted that I did not try different colors against just one puppet at the beginning, but caused extra handling of all puppets. Bits of paint did come off when I moved puppets around. This was a lesson learned hard.

Figure 11. Before treatment photo of the “chariot” shadow puppet against neutral grey.

Figure 12. Before treatment photo of the “chariot” shadow puppet against white.

Though I started on the project in 2022, I did not treat the rawhide puppets until 2023. Jessica and I did research into the puppets because the finding aid provided inadequate information, missing the artist and date, and whether the paper and rawhide puppets were made for the same performance. So in 2022, I treated and rehoused the paper puppets while learning about Balinese shadow puppets. Jessica and I did archival research in the Mabou Mines archives, and we found that the puppets were all made for the same performance. Two names came up as the designers of the puppets, Larry Reed and I Wayan Wija. We contact Larry Reed who told us that I Wayan Wija made all the puppets. Pak Wija lives in Bali. Our first few emails ended with no responses. When we were thinking that we would never find him, I found, on the website of the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, an article on Balinese shadow puppet theater by Professor Lisa Gold. She met with Pak Wija and featured him in her article. I emailed her and she provided me with Pak Wija’s contact information. In February, Jessica and I interviewed Pak Wija on Whatsapp.

While the research slowed down the progress, we were grateful that we did not skip it. We learned that the Balinese puppets have sacred entities beyond their physical materials. Balinese puppets were alive in performances, needed to be fed and paid respect, and have the healing power to help people in return. 

As conservators, we had limited power beyond taking care of the physical materials; Not a Balinese shadow master, or dalang, I could not take care of the spiritual parts of these puppets that I could not see or touch. According to Balinese traditions, untrained hands were not even allowed to handle sacred puppets. But Jessica and I were proud of our work. I think what we tried to do was to restore the connection between objects and people, giving back the puppets their identities and meanings. I think getting to know them is a starting point for paying the puppets the respect that is overdue so that others can do better in the future. The bond between the puppets and the people would have been lost in time and the dark storage rooms if we did not bring the puppets to Conservation. 

The greatest challenge was the consolidation. To stabilize the paints, I fed an isinglass solution into detached paints to stick them back down and to hold tiny flaked paint pieces together. I chose to treat the “chariot” puppet as a trial. It took me a month to finish it. At that time, I had less than 5 months left and 29 puppets to treat and rehouse. Plus, the old stock of isinglass was running out, and I had to extract a new batch to carry on.

So finally I told Jessica, “I don’t think I can treat all the puppets.” 

But the puppets might not have the chance to be treated again with enough space, time, and budget. Jessica and my colleagues said I should give it a try. The whole book and paper lab helped in making the new batch of isinglass. Jessica and I agreed that I would treat the most unstable ones as our priority. So that even if I could not treat every single puppet, the ones left would be relatively stable.

I used a Leica microscope to guide the consolidation. Examining the parts that need treatment under powerful magnification allows me to grasp the microstructures of unstable paints and find out a strategy for approaching each situation. Some look like colorful tents, volcanoes, cliffs, and archipelagoes. I found myself diminishing in size, taking a walk in these landscapes. Strangely, with the pressing deadlines, I did not feel like a desperate traveler in a hurry to get to a destination, but more like an explorer on a joyful journey.

When the final month approached, Jessica and I decided to rehouse all puppets and finish their reports before I carry out more treatment. I cut archival blue boards and cut them into the sizes of the boxes. And I attached soft Volara foam blocks as bumpers to hold the puppets in place. And Ethafoam blocks were added to the board so trays could be stacked in a box without pressing on the puppets. 

Before we wrap up, Jessica and I met with Weatherly Stephan (Head of Archival Collections management) and Nicholas Martin (Curator for the Arts and Humanities) to share my research findings so that information regarding the maker, date, and correct names of the puppets can be incorporated into the finding aid. For the housing information to be updated and to facilitate clarifying “what went where”, I created a Google document with an illustrated rehousing scheme for reference. Jessica will also keep the research information, including the artists’ contacts, for future reference.

I ended with all the puppets rehoused with their own reports. Of the 37 treated puppets, 30 were consolidated. There are 3 puppets left to treat, but the amount of work required should be minimum. 

Ending

I am grateful for working with so many kind and professional people during the past months. I want to give my special thanks to my supervisor Jessica Pace. Jessica helped me better understand the priorities of different tasks. This project is in debt to her patient guidance, communication, and foresight. You can also find out more about the people at NYU Libraries through the staff directory. 

I want to thank any patient Tumblr reader who read thus far. If you are eager for getting into Conservation, please find out more at the Emerging Conservation Professionals Network. You are also welcome to contact me via email ps2823@nyu.edu. I am happy to talk about my experience and projects, or just discuss random nerdy things in Conservation. 

[rebecca-liz]

That's colourless! "Clear" means "no gritty particles in the way". A good analogy is apple juice I think. Cloudy apple juice is not clear. Cheap "from concentate" apple juice is. Neither are colourless.

Stained glass is also clear but not colourless. (Polar bear fur is colourless but not clear, the way light interacts with a while bunch of very thin tubes makes it look white - under a microscope it is both clear and colourless.)

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Forgotten property of the electron

Physical discovery opens up new avenues for “orbitronics”

The orbital angular momentum of electrons has long been considered a minor physical phenomenon, suppressed in most crystals and largely overlooked. Scientists at Forschungszentrum Jülich have now discovered that in certain materials it is not only preserved but can even be actively controlled. This is due to a property of the crystal structure called chirality, which also influences many other processes in nature. The discovery has the potential to lead to a new class of electronic components capable of transmitting information with exceptional robustness and energy efficiency.

From electronics to spintronics, and now to orbitronics: In classical electronics, it is primarily the charge of the electron that counts. In modern approaches such as quantum computing and spintronics, the focus has shifted to the electron’s spin. Now, another property is entering the spotlight: orbital angular momentum (OAM). In simple terms, OAM describes how the electron moves within an atom – not in a classical orbit, but as a quantum mechanical distribution within an orbital.

“For decades, spin was considered the key parameter for new quantum-based technologies. But orbital angular momentum also has great potential as an information carrier – and is significantly more robust,” explains Dr. Christian Tusche from the Peter Grünberg Institute (PGI-6) at Forschungszentrum Jülich. The physicist is one of the lead authors of the study published in the renowned journal Advanced Materials.

The orbital angular momentum is one of the fundamental quantum numbers of the electron, similar to spin, which describes the apparent rotation of the electron. However, OAM is rarely observable in crystals. It is usually suppressed by the symmetrical electric and magnetic fields in the crystal lattice – an effect known as “quenching.”

In so-called chiral materials such as the cobalt silicide (CoSi) studied, this is different, as the team led by Christian Tusche, together with partners in Taiwan, Japan, Italy, the US, and Germany, has now been able to show. The word “chiral” comes from the ancient Greek “cheir” for hand. “These crystal structures lack mirror symmetry and are either left- or right-handed – just like the human hand. You can turn them around and they remain mirror images of each other,” explains Dr. Tusche. Chirality occurs frequently in nature. Sugar molecules, amino acids, and DNA all exhibit chiral structures.

Using high-resolution momentum microscopy and circularly polarized light, the researchers were able to resolve the orbital angular momentum in the chiral semiconductor for the first time – both inside the crystal and on its surface. For the measurements, they used the NanoESCA momentum microscope operated by Forschungszentrum Jülich at the Elettra synchrotron in Trieste, Italy. They discovered that the handedness of the crystal – left- or right-handed – predictably affects the orbital angular momentum of the electrons.

New link between crystal structure and electron

“Our results show that the structure of the crystal directly influences the angular momentum of the electrons – an effect that we were able to measure directly. This opens up a whole new door for materials research and information processing,” emphasizes Jülich experimental physicist Dr. Ying-Jiun Chen.

Dr. Dongwook Go, theoretical physicist at the Peter Grünberg Institute (PGI-1) in Jülich, adds: “The discovery is particularly important for the emerging field of orbitronics, which uses orbital angular momentum as an information carrier for the next generation of quantum technology.”

A characteristic feature of the resulting orbital angular momentum texture are differently formed Fermi arcs: open, arc-shaped structures that become visible in so-called momentum space representations, as generated by momentum microscopy. This opens up new perspectives for applications: In the future, information could be transmitted and stored not just via the charge or spin of electrons, but also through the direction and orientation of their orbital angular momentum. This so-called orbitronics – electronics based on orbital properties – could thus provide the foundation for a new class of electronic devices.

Potential for different applications

The EU is funding the development of this future technology as part of the EIC Pathfinder project OBELIX, in which Prof. Yuriy Mokrousov from the University of Mainz is also involved. The theoretical physicist is also group leader at the Peter Grünberg Institute (PGI-1) in Jülich and contributed fundamental theoretical models to the recent discovery.

Prof. Claus Michael Schneider also sees great promise: “For instance, it seems conceivable to use orbital angular momentum as an information carrier. Or one might employ circularly polarized light to selectively influence a crystal’s chirality, enabling a light-controlled, non-mechanical switch as an alternative to the transistor. Furthermore, coupling between orbital angular momentum and spin could allow integration into existing spintronics concepts—for example, in hybrid quantum devices,” says the director of the Peter Grünberg Institute for Electronic Properties (PGI-6) at Forschungszentrum Jülich.

TOP IMAGE: View into the NanoESCA momentum microscope Credit Forschungszentrum Jülich

CENTRE IMAGE: Textures of the orbital angular momentum with mirror-image Fermi arcs that depend on the handedness of the crystal. Credit K. Hagiwara, Y.-J. Chen, D. Go, Advanced Materials 2025, https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202418040, CC BY 4.0

LOWER IMAGE: Top: The orbital angular momentum describes the movement of the electron around the atomic nucleus. Bottom: Atomic orbitals describe the probability of finding the electrons in a particular location. Credit Forschungszentrum Jülich

[entomoblog]

Comment les ailes bleues d'un papillon tropical pourraient aider à détecter certains cancers

See on Scoop.it - EntomoNews

Des chercheur·euses californien·nes utilisent les ailes iridescentes du papillon morpho pour repérer, à moindre coût, des signes précoces de cancer dans les tissus humains. Une alternative prometteuse aux technologies médicales lourdes.

  Thomas Messias – 9 mai 2025 à 7h55

  "... Objectif final de la méthode: détecter les tissus fibreux susceptibles de signaler un cancer du sein et déterminer si ce cancer se prépare à se propager."

  "... Faire appel au papillon morpho constituerait un moyen plus simple et moins coûteux de diagnostiquer la nature fibreuse des tissus cancéreux, puisqu'elle ne nécessite qu'un microscope et une aile. Autre avantage non négligeable, mis en avant par Poulilakos: le tissu n'est altéré par aucune substance, puisqu'il est simplement traversé par la lumière."

    ------

NDÉ

L'étude

  Leveraging Optical Anisotropy of the Morpho Butterfly Wing for Quantitative, Stain‐Free, and Contact‐Free Assessment of Biological Tissue Microstructures - Kirya - 2025 - Advanced Materials, 15.01.2025 https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.202407728

  Image : Figure 1 schematically illustrates the principle of Morpho-Enhanced Polarized Light Microscopy (MorE-PoL) introduced in this work.