There’s a project in Sacha Nelson’s lab at Brandeis to generate and characterize enhancer trap mice for studying neural circuitry. They have a nice online searchable database of the lines they’ve generated, complete with…
Microscopists are often adapting techniques pioneered for astronomy. Adaptive optics is the example you all probably know. Relatedly, phase retrieval was originally developed for telescopic imaging systems, and was adapted for high NA microscopic imaging…
Compared to visible (vis) light, near infrared (NIR) wavelength scatters less and is less absorbed in brain tissue. If your fluorescent target absorbs vis light, then one way to use NIR is to flood the area…
Voice control has just recently become interesting to me. Ikuko bought me an Amazon Echo and I’m surprised at how useful I find it. I’m also surprised at how well it works– it can decipher…
If your gmail account gets filled up and you need more space, you could pay for an upgraded gmail account with more storage. Or you can clear out space. For clearing out space, there are two…
SLAB is hiring. See details at the link above (“Now Hiring!!“) or here: http://labrigger.com/blog/now-hiring/
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When you run out of catalogs to read, Photonics has some nice short articles. It’s all pretty basic, not too complicated. Good for training (e.g., Optical design software, Fiber lasers)
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Colorbrewer was designed for cartography, but is useful for figure color schemes and look up tables (LUTs). The web interface is slick, offers an immediate preview, and the look up table can be exported. Colorblind-safe…
This is a nice, quick, and practical introduction to optical alignment. A good place to start for training. By Rainer Heintzmann.
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I like things clean and organized. I’m basically Martha Stewart. With more lasers and fewer indictments.
Depending on the length of the cord and its minimum bend radius, several different wrapping styles can be acceptable. Here are…
Digital cameras can have global shutters or rolling shutters (some cameras can operate in both modes). Global shutters are preferable for periodic applications, including intrinsic imaging, because rolling shutters can cause artifacts. This article does a nice job of explaining the artifacts…
Can anyone suggest a nice way to store lenses? Ideas about storage containers and cabinets, and ideas about overall organization are all welcome.
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Our friend Christian Wilms tipped us to Austin Blanco’s blog, which has some posts you all might be interested in:
Characterizing unknown optical components
A few notes on Arduinos, their timers, and using them…
Federal RePORTER is a grant search engine that covers NIH, NSF, USDA, EPA, etc. The most recent year available is 2013, so you still have to go to the individual institutes’ sites. But handy nonetheless.
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