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Adolfo Sánchez-Blanco, PhD🇪🇸🇺🇸

@dr.bio4ever

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Embracing the power of science daily
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Fantastic article/report that NPR-Connecticut public radio did about my microscopy art exhibition “Biology with a (Spanish) accent”.
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This is the link to the full article and to the radio segment:

https://www.ctpublic.org/news/2025-11-07/art-microscope-interactive-biology-spanish-exhibit-hartford taken in Hartford, Connecticut by @dr.bio4ever

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a year ago

A little bit about me.
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#biologist by @dr.bio4ever

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a year ago

That little heart-shaped fern plant that you see at the start of the video is the gametophyte of a fern (in other words, a “baby fern”). The gametophyte is the haploid stage of the life cycle of plants. In the case of ferns, the gametophyte is very tiny, and it typically looks like a heart. In the case of mosses the gametophyte is what you normally see when you see a moss. In the case of gymnosperms and flowering plants, the gametophyte is microscopic!
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Ferns reproduce by spores. When a fern spore germinates, it will turn into the fern gametophyte (a “baby fern”). As the gametophyte matures, it will produce the fern sexual organs: the archegonia and the antheridia. Sperm produced by the antheridia will fertilize an egg cell in the archegonium. When this happens, a zygote is formed. The zygote will then develop into a new fern sporophyte plant that will be protected by the heart-shaped haploid fern gametophyte plant!
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The sporophyte is the diploid stage of the life cycle of plants. When you see ferns in the forest or when you cultivate ferns at home, this is the fern sporophyte.
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The fern gametophyte in the first part of the video was fixed and stained but in the second part of the video you can see what a living gametophyte looks like under the microscope and how beautiful its chloroplasts are.
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Isn’t it amazing that ferns look like green hearts at the start of their life cycle? Biology is amazing!
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For this video I used a Leica ZOOM 200 stereoscope and an Olympus BX41 microscope at up to 1000X magnification.

#microscope #fern #gametophyte by @dr.bio4ever

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4 days ago

In this video you can see tiny pellets containing incredible amounts of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells. These cells are alive but since they have been desiccated, they enter a state of ‘suspended animation’ that can last years. To revive the yeast cells I used sugar water. The water will hydrate the yeast and the sugar will provide a food source for the yeast cells to ferment. Fermentation is the reason why yeast is so appreciated. When yeast cells ferment sugars, they will generate the ATP energy that they need for the cell to function, and as byproducts of fermentation they will generate carbon dioxide gas and alcohol. By the way, did you see some of the yeast cells budding to produce new yeast cells?

In this other video you can see how amazing molds are. A mold doesn’t appear magically. In this case, the likely story is that mold spores travelled through air and landed on the tomato’s surface. Once there, if the tomato skin was slightly damaged, the spores germinated into a hyphal cell, which then eventually thrived into a mycelium thanks to the moisture and nutrients that the tomato provided. Molds like this one could be nasty to our produce but molds are also incredibly important organisms as they play critical ecological roles as decomposers (recycling the organic wastes of nature!)

In this video you can see how once the leaves fall from the trees, they become food for fungi, which start rapidly spreading their filament networks (mycelia) onto each of the leaves. By eating the leaves, fungi will decompose the leaves making them disappear. Thus, fungi play an incredibly important role in cycling nutrients by decomposing dead leaves. Seeing fungi grow on the dead leaves is amazing! The fungi are not easy to see under normal conditions because they are colorless. But when I used the dye methylene blue, the fungal hyphae got stained and now you could clearly see the them.

The weird fungus in this video is the cedar–hawthorn rust (Gymnosporangium globosum). When looking closely, you can see that the fungus creates clusters of tiny tubes called aecia. Under the microscope, these little structures resemble a honeycomb, each one filled with thousands of bright by @dr.bio4ever

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10 days ago

The plant parasites in this video are mealybugs. Mealybugs parasitize plants using their phenomenally adapted needle-like mouthparts to pierce plant tissues and drink sap. Mealybugs secrete a white powdery wax that coats their bodies like armor. This wax works as a shield that protects them from predators and also prevents water loss. But the most amazing thing about this wax shield is that it gives them some protection against certain pesticides (this is one of the many reasons mealybugs are such dreaded pests for gardeners).
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The ladybugs shown in this video (Cryptolaemus montrouzieri) love eating mealybugs, so they can be used as a form of biological pest control. Instead of using pesticides to control mealybugs (pesticides do not always work that well with mealybugs and can be toxic to the environment), these predatory ladybugs can be introduced to plants infested with mealybugs and they will do the job of the pesticide.
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Biology is amazing!
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For this video I used a Zeiss Stemi 305 stereoscope at up to 40X magnification.

#cryptolaemusmontrouzieri #mealybugs #ladybugs by @dr.bio4ever

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18 days ago

It is mind blowing to see the amount of life that there can be in a single drop of pond water!
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The body of water that you see in the video is a natural pond found several miles into a forest (in an area far away from people). The diversity of life in a healthy forest pond is incredible.
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By the way, I love the noises that the bullfrogs make in the background!
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In this video you can see a number of microscopic organisms. Some of them are animals (multicellular microscopic organisms) and some of them are made of a single cell (unicellular organisms).
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These are the organisms that you can see in the video in order of appearance:
Microscopic crustacean
Flatworm and filamentous algae
Ciliated protozoans filter feeding on smaller microorganisms
Rotifer swimming around filamentous algae
Microscopic crustacean (Nauplius larva of Cyclops) – in the last shot you can also see a beautiful Pediastrum alga
Ciliated protozoan
Testate amoeba (Arcella)
Desmid green alga (Cosmarium) surrounded by filamentous algae
Another rotifer in the middle of some strands of filamentous algae
Rotifer close ups and another ciliated protozoan
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Micro-life is incredible (and beautiful)!
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For this video I used an Olympus CX31 microscope at up to 400x magnification.

#microscopy #microorganisms #pondwater by @dr.bio4ever

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25 days ago

The reason this beach has 2 colors of sand and not a single, blended color is hydrodynamic sediment sorting (wave-driven sediment sorting in more simple words).
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The sand in the beach is composed of particles with very different sizes and densities. The darker sand consists mostly of smaller but heavier mineral grains, while the golden sand contains larger but lighter particles made of tiny seashell fragments and sea urchin spine bits.
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As waves and backwash move the sand along the beach, the different sand particles move differently. Repeated wave action separates them into different areas, producing beautiful bands of golden sand embedded in between the more abundant dark sand.
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There is always beauty to be observed in nature!
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The beach shown in the video is Playa de Barayo in Asturias, Spain.
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For this video I used a Zeiss Stemi 305 stereoscope and an Olympus BX41 microscope at up to 40X magnification.

#microscope #beachsand by @dr.bio4ever

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a month ago

1. Microtome cross-section of a lichen showing the layered organization of the fungus and algae. The sample was fixed and stained. 400x magnification.

2–4. Living samples of a lichen. The fungal hyphae as well as the algal cells are visible.

2. 400x magnification
3. 1000x magnification
4. 2000x magnification

Lichens are formed by fungi and algae (or cyanobacteria in some cases) that associate with each other forming a mutualistic symbiotic relationship. This association creates a physical connection between very different organisms in which both of them benefit from each other.
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The fungus is great at absorbing water and minerals from the environment. The alga is great at producing food from scratch by photosynthesis, but it needs water and minerals. So the fungus provides water and minerals for the alga, and the alga provides food for the fungus. Perfect partnership!

#lichens #microscope by @dr.bio4ever

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a month ago

Lichens are formed by fungi and algae (or cyanobacteria in some cases) that associate with each other forming a mutualistic symbiotic relationship. This association creates a physical connection between very different organisms in which both of them benefit from each other.
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The fungus is great at absorbing water and minerals from the environment. The alga is great at producing food from scratch by photosynthesis, but it needs water and minerals. So the fungus provides water and minerals for the alga, and the alga provides food for the fungus. Perfect partnership!
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In the first part of the video you can see the fungi and the algae within a little piece of lichen. In the second part of the video you can see the microscopic organization of a lichen cross-section from top to bottom:
Upper cortex: A dense layer of fungal hyphae that protects the lichen from drying out and damage in general.
Photobiont layer: This is where the algal cells live. This is where photosynthesis happens, producing food that is shared with the fungus.
Medulla: Network of fungal hyphae that makes up most of the lichen. This part of the lichen is very good at retaining water and dissolved minerals, which are shared with the algae.
Lower cortex: Another dense fungal layer that provides protection and helps attach the lichen to the surface it is growing on.
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For this video I used an Olympus BX41 microscope at up to 1000X magnification.

#lichens #microscopy #microscope by @dr.bio4ever

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a month ago

These animals are mole crabs (Emerita). These crustaceans are adapted to live near the shoreline of the ocean, specifically in the swash area (the area of the ocean where water washes up on the beach after a wave breaks). By living in the swash area of the ocean, mole crabs are constantly exposed to the strong force of the moving water. To avoid being washed in and out by the moving water, they anchor themselves in the sand by burrowing. Their body and legs are perfectly adapted to burrow in the backwards direction. This way they can stick their antennae out and feed while their body is covered with sand.

This primitive animal is a ‘red beard sponge’. Yes, sponges are animals even though they look like plants! Sponges are filter feeding organisms (water goes through pores into the sponge and food particles in the water are captured by the sponge cells. After this, the water exits through another sponge opening). Sponges can’t survive out of water. The sponge in the video had been washed away on the shoreline after a storm so even though I cut it to observe it under the microscope, the sponge was already dead. Sponges serve as habitats for a great variety of marine organisms such as shrimp, worms, crabs, etc. Thus, sponges are important components of marine ecosystems. The spicules in the sponge are structures that provide structural support. These glassy little needles are made by silicate secretions.

Here you can see the incredible structure of a cuttlebone under the microscope. Cuttlebones are internal calcified shells produced by cuttlefish. The inner structure of the cuttlebone is formed by crystalized calcium carbonate covered by a layer of organic material. Cuttlebone is like the “backbone” of the cuttlefish. It provides structural support for the cuttlefish body, and it protects the animal’s vital organs. But the most amazing function of the cuttlebone is that of acting as a buoyancy device. The cuttlebone can fill with gases, and this helps control the cuttlefish buoyancy in the water column. In other words, the cuttlebone facilitates the up and down swimming of the cuttlefish in the ocean.
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Never underestimate the amazingness of any creature that you by @dr.bio4ever

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a month ago

The diversity of life that you can find in a body of water like this pond is just incredible. A single drop of water is full of life. Life happening in a different dimension!
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Some of the microscopic organisms that you see in the video are animals (multicellular organisms) but most of the microscopic organisms that you see are unicellular organisms (made by just one cell). It is pretty amazing how the size of some of the unicellular organisms matches the size of the micro-animals that appear in this reel.
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These are the microorganisms that you see in the video (in order of appearance):
Coleps (a beautiful ciliated protozoan)
Rotifer pushing a diatom and another rotifer swimming by
Another diatom
A ciliated protozoan
Another ciliated protozoan
Rotifer
Diatom and Euglenoid
Filamentous alga and small ciliated protozoan
Ciliated protozoan
A ciliated protozoan
Another ciliated protozoan
Vorticella
Diatom and another Euglenoid as well as unicellular algae
2 diatoms
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For this video I used an Olympus CX31 microscope at up to 400x magnification

#microscopy #microorganisms #ecology by @dr.bio4ever

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2 months ago

The ashes used in my video as well as in the art piece belong to the Spanish filmmaker Jess Franco and were transferred to the Spanish artist Domingo Sánchez Blanco to create an installation in his memory at the Museo Mausoleo de Morille in Salamanca, Spain. My video is now also part of that installation.
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The art piece that contains the filmmaker’s ashes as well as my video were featured on Spanish national television (La2 channel) in the show “La Aventura del Saber”. You can see the entire TV segment here:
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1289183382817603
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You can see my video by clicking on the reel I posted on March 27, 2026 by @dr.bio4ever

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2 months ago