Detail, More Detail. For more than 2 decades, photomicroscopist Dee Breger of Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has used artistic photographs from scanning electron microscopes (SEMs) to lure the public into learning about science. "It's a bait and switch," says Breger (left, top). "You grab someone's attention with a pretty image, and you tell them what it is." Last fall, she did one better: She offered an hourlong guided session on an SEM as part of an auction to raise money for educational software.
The auction, organized by Galaxygoo, a San Francisco nonprofit, featured works of art inspired by science, including Breger's own SEM image of a penguin feather. The SEM session was bought on eBay last month by Aaron Messing (center), a 65-year-old amateur microscopist, for $153.75.
Messing, who has eight light microscopes at his West Orange, New Jersey, home, says the 2-million-fold magnification was too good to pass up. Messing is preparing for his session by reading the microscope's lengthy user's manual. He hopes to study "some state-of-the-art nano-items" borrowed from Drexel's College of Engineering and avoid "a nice little exercise that is cute but not meaningful."
