When was I a high school biology teachers’ aide and a laboratory instructor at Uconn, Stamford, my favorite lab was microscopic studies. Natural design caught my attention and stimulated my inner sense of beauty. What I observed was important....and entertaining. Student reactions were fascinating as well. Sometimes my enthusiasm was so great that I knew I would have to paint the picture of the thing I saw under the microscope. Now, at last, I am starting to paint the many pictures I have in my head. A process has evolved: sketch with pencil or pen, try 5 or 6 compositions planning the space fully, select the composition that satisfies the idea and feeling of the subject matter, then paint a watercolor first attempt. Try second or even third or fourth attempts. Then do the final in oil. Sometimes I like the watercolor better than the oil. As an advocate for the small and hoping to communicate the beauty of the small and the rarely seen, I like to paint the oils on large canvases.

Cyclosis in Elodea: Chloroplasts, the green balls in the picture, cycle around the inside of individual cells near cellulose cell walls of the water plant, Elodea. Magnification is about 1000x, captured with an oil objective with a video camera attachment. Students view the slide preparation on a TV monitor. Little black specks stream through the cytoplasm, appearing to dock onto the chloroplasts. I believe the specks are mitochondria. Normally one would study mitochondria with a scanning or electron microscope using very high magnifications, not with a student light microscope. It is exciting to see living, functioning mitochondria and chloroplasts. Mitochondria break down sugar and in the presence of oxygen produce huge amounts of ATPs, energy molecules that fuel a host of biochemical reactions. Chloroplasts are found in all green plants and green algae. They contain chlorophyll, a special pigment that converts light energy from the sun into usable chemical energy that we call sugar or food. In the dark the chloroplasts stay still and space themselves across the entire cell. When light reaches the chloroplasts, biochemical reactions initiate cycling, a process we call cyclosis.

Two strains of Sordaria, one with white ascospores and the second with black ascospores, were plated together. Sexual reproduction occurred; genes were mixed. When the arrangement was four black with four white, mating occurred between the strains. When the arrangement was two white, two black, two white, two black, mating occurred with crossover during meiosis. Old-time geneticists used frequency of crossover to map genes on chromosomes. Look at what we can do today. The whole human genome is revealed.

I experience awe when I see an unusual pattern or a beautiful design. That awe drives me, the scientist. And still in awe of the forces of nature, I feel compelled to paint the subject. It says everything about how we scientists are lead to discovery.

The sea urchin egg is about to be fertilized. Although hundreds of sperm will frantically try to pierce the egg, only one sperm will fuse with the egg plasma membrane. Then cortical granules under the egg plasma membrane will be released forming a fertilization membrane. All other sperm will be prevented from entering the egg. In about 80 minutes the 2-cell stage will appear. In a three hour lab students were often able to see the 4-cell stage.