Microscopy:
Young Explorer of the Living World
"Looking into the microscope is seeing more that the lens reveals. It reveals man's search for purpose and meaning of life." - avr
Dr Abe V Rotor
A drop of pond water reveals a myriad of microorganisms, a whole world beyond our naked eye. Left, filaments of green alga (100x magnification); closeup of a protozoon.
That was many years ago when I last peered through the microscope in school, after that I lost tract of the wealth of nature hidden beyond our unaided eye, thanks to science and technology and the genius and persistence of our scientists;
The world of the living minutiae is in fact more complex and richer in diversity, living and non-living things in a state of dynamic balance and harmony though fleeting and ephemeral vis-a-vis the living world we know;
Here the cycles of nature - living and non-living, organic and inorganic, elemental and organized in compounds - undergo a never ending process, universal, and specific, but all leading towards what is known as homeostasis;
What is life then, how do we define it, when we have barely explored the living world?
How much more at the depth of the oceans and in the vastness of the cosmos through which our planet Earth travels, chart-less toward the unknown;
What is biodiversity then when we can barely understand specimens in the extremes - single celled to multi-cellular, prehistoric to the endangered species of today,
new realms opening up for study through fossils, and in archives every day?
Two generations gap, and here is my grand daughter of the Phoenix generation following the millennial generation, urging me to open the microscope long kept in the attic - do I still know how to operate it and know my specimens?
The challenge is both, but greater is my part, teacher and guardian, the bridge of traditional and modern, the so-called expert in an era on continuing knowledge and skill in "explosion" - what with cyber technology in postmodern time?
To Mackie, budding scientist and artist, the challenge is now and the future, the continuum of man's search of the unknown, more in the why rather than the what, where, who, when and how of things and events;
What is in the microscope, and why is it there? What are these living fossils, simple organisms that barely changed in the course of evolution through millions of years? What is their key to survival and resistance to change?
The more we discover things the more we are puzzled, like the higher we go up the mountain, the wider but beclouded is the view. In like manner, the microscope has led us to see the once invisible virus, and not far, to see the molecule;
Science - "One small step of man, a giant leap for mankind" - adage in the landing on the moon; on the other hand, science - "God's Particle" - when scientists reached the edge of research of the Higgs Boson - both tell of man's dream and humility;
Look into the microscope and see more than the lens reveals. It reveals man's search for purpose and meaning of life. It is yet the greatest lens ever, and ever will be, for Little Mackie et al and the next generations to look into throughout their lives. ~