The guys at The Florida State University, have some very neat toys. Big expensive toys for taking pictures of itty bitty things, like Beest does.
They have a
website where they post lots of great pictures, up close and personal, of animal, vegetable, and mineral structures.
On
this page they explain how they tried Polarized light microscopy then differential interference contrast microscopy with limited results. Next they tried freezing a thin sample which led to tons of problems in the florida humidity.
After considerable effort, they end up with, "seed crystallization technique with semi-hydrophobic seed crystals", which I can hardly get my head around but it sure makes pretty pictures.
They not only have beers from 30 different countries, but birthstones, drugs, brains, buckyballs, and a host of other cool stuff.
