11.7.12

3.7.12

Kirlian Photography and the Aura



















Kirlian photography refers to a form of photogram made with electricty.  It was accidently discovered in 1939 by Semyon Kirlian when he connected a photographic plate to a source of voltage. Kirlian believed that the image he was studying might be a human aura.

Micrographs and Sputter coating

Electron microscope





































Sputter coating in scanning electron microscopy is a process of covering a specimen with a very thin layer of 
conducting material, typically a metal, such as agold/palladium (Au/Pd) alloy. Conductive coating is needed to prevent charging of a specimen with an electron beam in conventional SEM mode (high vacuum, high voltage). While metal coatings could be useful also for increasing signal to noise ratio (heavy metals are good secondary electron emitters), they are of inferior quality when X-ray spectroscopy employed. Therefore, when X-ray spectroscopy needed, the preferred coating is a carbon coating.

Neoteny

All complex organisms share a common morphology—initially. They acquire their distinctive, specialized adult forms as they develop. By retarding development, neoteny produces adults with juvenile features. This de-differentiation of morphology provides adaptive advantages in rapidly changing environments, including, one has to suppose, high-tech environments.