Archive for year: 2020

Monitoring climate change on the world’s highest mountain takes a special kind of microscope

In 2019 National Geographic® filmed an ambitious expedition to 5,000m on Mount Everest . The expedition collected data measuring the impact of climate change on this vulnerable ecosystem. It is difficult to get precision scientific equipment up there, so very little research is done at these extreme altitudes. However, Biologist Tracie Seimon identified protozoa living under the ice using an ioLight portable microscope and her mobile phone. The microscope is small and light enough to fit in a rucksack pocket and robust enough to survive extreme conditions on the mountain. In spite of its compact size the microscope still has the resolution needed to see these microscopic animals clearly. As you would expect the film is beautifully made and explains some of the tricky challenges of science on top of the world.