Under The Microscope

I have a lot on my mind. A lot of changes have been made and a lot of changes are yet to come. Eventually I will write about that, when the changes are upon me. I do not like to write or discuss potentials - things that may or may not happen. Have you ever talked about something you are looking forward to and then it does not happen? Maybe been bragging about a concert you have tickets to and the people you tell are somewhat jealous, only to later find out the concert has been cancelled and now you have to tell the same people that you never went. I feel like that happens often and I do not like that kind of story. A story without an ending. Kind of like watching a series that has been cancelled or a book series that was never finished. Another reason why I have not yet started reading the A Song of Ice and Fire series (Game of Thrones as the TV-series is called). I will wait until all books are published before getting myself hooked on the books.

Anyway, what I have been doing today was using a microscope in class. I am taking Natural Science on a High School level and, although I have done this very same practical laboratory before in Biology, I really did enjoy looking at cells. We looked at the red cells from red onion skin, the green leaf from an orchid and human cells (from the inside of my cheek) coloured blue so they could be seen.

Underneath you see three photos. The first two are essentially the same, one more zoomed in than the other. It shows the many cells that builds the red skin of an onion. They are stacked almost like bricks with cell walls; something that only plants have since they do not have to be able to move like animals do. It looks so gorgeous! I wish I could print these out and hung on my wall. I do love the colour, the structure, the everything about it. On the rightmost photo we have added a drop of 10% salt water. The cells dries up and shrink as the salt pulls the water out from the cells.

 

Further down you will see a green photo, it is the leaf of an orchid. If you look closely you will see that the cells looks like bubbles. Still packed somewhat similar to bricks. All plants look a bit different, as animals do, but have the same basic brick structure with cell walls keeping the cells together. Inside the cells are tiny green dots, I compared them to roe. These are called chloroplast and they are filled with chlorophyll, which gives the plants their colour. Inside the chloroplast is where photosynthesis take place; simply put where plants convert carbon dioxide, water and solar energy to oxygen and sugar.

The blue photo shows my cells. The blue is just colouring so you can see the cells, I am not blue myself. Animal cells, as you can see, are scattered and does not follow the brick patterned. Good for us, it makes us flexible and movable. Although... maybe my back has bricked up. I am experiencing a stiff back. (A joke in text form, I wonder if it got through to you?) Back to the photo - if you look closely you will see my cell nucleus which is a small dot inside the cell. Inside that tiny dot is where my DNA is stored along with some proteins. Pretty cool to look at, also difficult to truly understand that everything I am is made of these tiny cells.

After class I went to the district health care centre and left three tubes of blood. I have been feeling off lately and the tests keep coming back with something off and then back to normal again. Hopefully this time it is still off. That sounds strange, but I would be glad if I could get an answer to why I am not feeling my best. Right now it looks to be hypothyroidism, which means that my thyroid is not producing enough hormones. Nothing dangerous per se, but it makes me feel ill most of the time. Now I have two bruises on my left arm from where the nurses put the needles (I was in earlier last week too).

Time to eat dinner.

Have a good evening!