Since this project got under way I have been contributing a series of “SEM Diaries” to Balsam Post, the Newsletter of the Postal Microscopical Society. These detail the trials and tribulations of getting the project underway and also, in a more positive light, record progress since the installation of my SEM.
The series may be accessed here. Click on the links to open pdf files of each edition:
SEM Diaries 1 - Gestation and Birth (July 2015)
SEM Diaries 2 - A Tale of Builders, Gas and Gold (October 2015)
SEM Diaries 3 - How an SEM Works (January 2016)
SEM Diaries 4 - The Beast Arrives (April 2016)
SEM Diaries 5 - It Broke! (July 2016)
SEM Diaries 6 - The Mysterious Case of the Imploding Tick (October 2016)
SEM Diaries 7 - Ping and it’s gone! (January 2017)
SEM Diaries 8 - Obtaining and identifying specimens, and first steps in colouring (April 2017)
SEM Diaries 9 - The Backscattered Electron Detector is Installed! (July 2017)
SEM Diaries 10 - Butterfly Scales and Diatoms (October 2017)
SEM Diaries 11 - My foot fetish and my first published micrograph January 2018)
SEM Diaries 12 - Looking at things from a different angle (April 2018)
SEM Diarie 13 - Now what on earth was on that stub? - And another story (July 2018)
SEM Diaries 14 - What’s in a Filament? (October 2018)
SEM Diaries 15 - Its not all about making images (but a bit on that as well) (January 2019)
SEM Diaries 16 - HEXAMETHYLDISILAZANE (April 2019)
SEM Diaries 17 - One in the eye (July 2019)
SEM Diaries 18 - Pure Lust (October 2019)
SEM Diaries 19 - A Quiet Period (January 2020)
SEM Diaries 20 - Five Years and Counting (April 2020)
SEM Diaries 21 - Compucentric , or plain Eccentric? (July 2020)
SEM Diaries 22 - More on rotatable stubs, and a new SEM! (October 2020)
SEM Diaries 23 - Diatoms and De-cluttering (January 2021)
SEM Diaries 24 - Processing small items, and colouring (April 2021)
SEM Diaries 25 - “It takes two to tango” - On collaboration (July 2021)
SEM Diaries 26 - More on Pollen, and that Book (October 2021)
SEM Diaries 27 - Procrastination is ……. not a good idea (January 2022)
SEM Diaries 28 - The eyes have it (April 2022)
SEM Diaries 29 - Foraminifera and related specimens - and AI (July 2022)
SEM Diaries 30 - Mineralogy Rocks! (October 2022)
SEM Diaries 31 - The EDAX has Landed! (January 2023)
SEM Diaries 32 - Conferences, Lectures, and Coccoliths (April 2023)
SEM Diaries 33 - Struggles, solutions and elation (July 2023)
SEM Diaries 34 - Old Fossils (October 2023)
SEM Diaries 35 - See how they run! (January 2024)
SEM Diaries 36 - Events get in the way of imaging (April 2024)
SEM Diaries 37 - One thing leads to another (July 2024)
SEM Diaries 38 - Some New Subjects (October 2024)
SEM Diaries 39 - It weren’t broke, but I did fix it - twice, plus new features (January 2025)
SEM Diaries 40 - An Introduction to Coccolithophores (April 2025)