As you may know, I’m a theorist, which means that my lab generally consists of some grad students and me sitting at computers or a white board. But as I’ve got kids to think about (my oldest, Willa, is now 6), I’ve started stocking up on optics kits, and home telescopes and the like.
My most recent toy was a very reasonable digital microscope, and I decided to inaugurate it by having Willa do a little scientific inquiry. What would look cool (or gross) magnified up to 250x? Willa’s selections are below, including 1 or 2 which might also serve as indictments of my parenting.
Her mama’s engagement ring:
The back of her hand:
An extreme closeup of a drawing of a flower:
An actual flower petal:
Her almost completely unused napkin:
Kosher salt:
Her shamefully disgusting fingernail:
It’s just a friendly reminder to try to see the natural world through the eyes of a kid.
-Dave