Question: Are you always only looking down a microscope?

Carolyn Nielsen answered on 13 Nov 2015:

I use a microscope when I am setting up experiments so that I can count how many cells are in each sample. This is important because if I want to compare two samples, it’s only fair if they have the same number of cells.

My secondary school where I did GCSEs/A- levels didn’t have particularly good science facilities and I don’t really remember using microscopes much in school at all. When I got to university I found them a bit confusing and remember being anxious that we would maybe be working with them a lot. You get trained how to do this though so I became better, and as you progress you get to work with better microscopes that are easier to use! During my master’s, I used a microscope that detects fluorescence, so I was able to get some really cool pictures of malaria parasites (shining bright green!) which was a lot of fun.

Have you used microscopes in school?