Digital Discovery 2008 Day 1

Dee Breger, the Director of Microscopy at Drexel University, entertained a full-house in Discovery’s Cine Muse Theater with gorgeous High Definition scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of invisibly tiny objects. She explained the basics of SEM imaging, the details of her unique image processing techniques, and her thrilling current activities in the study of cataclysmic geologic events such as volcanic eruptions and cosmic impacts. She interspersed within her lecture several dazzling SEM images, including the scales of a butterfly’s wing, the hairs of a tarantula, single cell plant and animal organisms, sickle cells of blood, and brain tissue.

Ms. Breger has devoted much of her career to connecting people of all types and backgrounds with the science of the sub microscopic world, by presenting SEM images as works of art.

She uses digital photo editing to add color, remove flaws, and place objects against simple backgrounds in order to evoke the natural beauty of the objects, without betraying the underlying scientific “truth.” Several of her incredible SEM images are currently on display at the Discovery Museum for any interested visitors who missed Sunday’s presentation.


The other feature of Sunday’s Nanotechnology Day at Discovery was a plethora of hands-on nanoscience activities and demonstrations led by the Southern Connecticut State University Center for Research on Interface Structures and Phenomena (CRISP). Visitors had the opportunity to learn about size and scale, make their own liquid crystal temperature sensor, play with mystifying ferrofluid, and learn about some of the exciting research being done in the field of nanotechnology - Add to this a lively demonstration by Discovery Executive Director Linda Malkin.