[extropy-chat] Resources for microscopes

[BillK]

On 4/2/06, kevinfreels.com wrote:
> My daughters and I want to get some petri dishes and collect samples from
> what is flying around in the air in the house and see if there is mold and
> other such things. We plan to collect samples in some kind of medium in the
> dishes and culture it so we can get decent samples for microscopes. Then we
> would like to look at it in the microscope and find out what we have. It
> should be a fun experiment for us all.
> Does anyone know what kinds of media I should use for collecting and
> culturing the samples? Or, does anyone know of a website resource for
> comparing samples with photographs?  Our main concern is that we have
> Strachybotrys running around, but others may be present as well.


Make sure you're looking in the best places to collect samples.
No, not the toilet seat - that's probably the cleanest place!

<http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/12/13/cold.flu.desk/>

Dr. Charles Gerba, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona,
counted bacteria on workplace surfaces for a study sponsored by The
Clorox Co., makers of Clorox bleach.

Office toilet seats had 49 germs per square inch, he found. But
desktops had almost 21,000 germs per square inch. Phones were worse --
more than 25,000 germs per square inch.

Desks, phones, computer keyboards and mice are key germ transfer
points because people touch them so often, Gerba said, adding that
coughing and sneezing can leave behind "a minefield of viruses" that
can live on a surface for up to three days.
-----------------------------


Taking samples in your house might not be a good idea. You might turn
into a fanatic about disinfecting, cleaning, filtering, washing,
wiping, etc.

There is a school of opinion that the growing number of allergic
children is at least partly due to them living in too clean an
environment, and never giving their bodies the chance to build up
resistance to germs.

BillK