Nov122011November 12, 2011November 11, 20110Commentby L.

TIRF teaching materials

Posted in Tips

Next time you’re explaining TIRF to someone, start off by showing them this piece of artwork. (Arndt von Scheidt, source)

…

Read More

Nov112011November 11, 2011May 11, 20123Commentsby L.

Building a 2p scope, 2011 edition

Posted in Hardware

What’s new this year?

The original post on building a 2p scope still gets a lot of hits. Let’s revisit the topic.

Scientifica

Scientifica has been working hard on developing a kit for multiphoton imaging. It’s all based off of their minimalist, yet versatile SliceScope platform.

I’ve had the opportunity to check out their collection module and…

Read More


Nov092011November 9, 2011November 9, 20110Commentby L.

Sensapex piezo manipulators

Posted in Hardware

Sensapex is the new kid on the block for micromanipulators, and theirs have an ultra small footprint with 20mm of travel on 3 axes. Here are some pictures of one of the…

Read More


Nov082011November 8, 2011November 8, 20110Commentby L.

Stop Safari from reloading tabs

Posted in Software, Tips

Apple’s Safari web browser v5.1 has an annoying behavior where tabs reload/refresh like crazy. This can cause lost work and data.

Disable the problematic behavior this way:
1. Close Safari

2. Open a terminal and enter this command

defaults write com.apple.safari IncludeInternalDebugMenu 1


3. Restart Safari. You should see a new menu to the right of…

Read More


Nov012011November 1, 2011November 1, 20111Commentby L.

Impact factor = subscription price

Posted in Tips

For the next two weeks, you can get a personal 1 year subscription to any of the Nature publications for a…

Read More


Nov012011November 1, 2011November 1, 20115Commentsby L.

Thorlabs’ SM2 fits Nikon lenses

Posted in Hardware

Fun fact for the day:…

Read More


Oct312011October 31, 2011October 31, 20111Commentby L.

No homemade cables

Posted in Hardware

One of Josh Trachtenberg’s rules that I have adopted is “No Homemade Cables”. It’s so natural to think that this is the best solution to hook…

Read More


Oct242011October 24, 2011October 23, 20110Commentby L.

Armchair quarterback the NIH budget

Posted in Tips

Think you could do a better job allocating the NIH budget? This is your…

Read More


Oct232011October 23, 2011October 23, 20111Commentby L.

Streamlined & simple prototyping to custom PCB

Posted in Hardware, Software

Fritzing is PCB design software (EDA) in the spirit of Arduino and Processing. It’s open source, cross-platform, streamlined, and simple to use. It doesn’t do simulations, but you can lay out your circuit in a GUI that looks like a prototyping board, then move…

Read More


Oct172011October 17, 2011October 20, 20111Commentby L.

Photon counting, addendum

Posted in Hardware, Tips

Let me add some clarification to the hybrid PMT post.

The actual signal that comes off of a PMT in response to a photon is a pulse of…

Read More


Oct172011October 17, 2011October 15, 20110Commentby L.

More Spectra, Please

Posted in Tips

George McNamara is planning on updating the massive PubSpectra (previously mentioned here).

He’s currently soliciting submissions. Do you have any to contribute?

(link)

…

Read More

Oct162011October 16, 2011October 16, 20111Commentby L.

Photon counting with Hybrid PMTs

Posted in Hardware

Hybrid PMTs have made their way into fluorescence microscopy and are competing with GaAsP PMTs. (Well, actually, Hamamatsu makes both types, so it’s not really competition…

Read More


Oct152011October 15, 2011October 15, 20115Commentsby L.

Synchronizing multiple computers for experiments

Posted in Software

In many rigs, multiple computers are used, and they need to talk to each other. For example, one computer handles…

Read More


Oct082011October 8, 2011October 8, 20110Commentby L.

Books online for free from the NIH

Posted in Tips

Within the PubMed architecture, there are a lot of resources, visible on the pulldown list next to the search field. If you browse down a bit, you’ll see “Books”. (direct link)

These…

Read More


Oct032011October 3, 2011October 3, 201121Commentsby L.

Osmometer tech – Vapor or Freezing point?

Posted in Hardware

I’ve used Wescor Vapro osmometers for a long time. Specifically, the model pictured above. They’re nice machines. But now I think freezing point osmometers are better. In this post I’ll talk about why.

The…

Read More