The Microscope – Volume 65, Third Quarter 2017
IN THIS ISSUE
On the cover
An automobile airbag inflator housing and enclosed airbag initiator examined with computed X-ray tomography, a 3-D imaging technique that allows the internal structure of an object to be sectioned into thin slices and viewed in any direction. See Takata Airbag Death: Source-Determination Investigation of Metal Fragment Recovered from Driver, page 99. (Photo courtesy of Richard S. Brown.)
Editorial | Milestones of Today’s Microscopy Community
Gary J. LaughlinThe Microscope 65:3, p. ii, 2017https://doi.org/10.59082/AIZT5964
Excerpt: This year, Inter/Micro will mark its 70th anniversary (June 11–15, 2018), continuing the vision of its founders, Walter C. McCrone and Charles Tufts, who developed this first of its kind “international microscopy” conference in 1948. Inter/Micro has always been a gathering of microscopists from around the world, and for the past 33 years, it has been held and hosted by McCrone Research Institute in Chicago. Prior to this, the conference alternated between Chicago and various locations in the U.K., including Brighton, Leeds, London, and Cambridge. In the past decade, we have welcomed speakers and attendees from the U.S., the Netherlands, Israel, England, Canada, Australia, Turkey, India, Germany, Taiwan, Norway, and Austria.
Takata Airbag Death: Source-Determination Investigation of Metal Fragment Recovered from Driver
Richard S. Brown
The Microscope 65:3, pp. 99–105, 2017https://doi.org/10.59082/CDNX6570
Abstract: In December 2015, the driver of a 2006 Ford Ranger pickup truck was killed after colliding with an object in the road. The truck’s airbag module had deployed, and a subsequent autopsy revealed what appeared to be a gunshot wound in the driver’s neck. The suspected source of the wound was a metal fragment slug from the driver’s side airbag module located in the steering wheel of the truck. MVA Scientific Consultants was asked by the coroner’s office to determine the composition of the slug recovered from the driver and to determine the source of the slug.
Abstract: In December 2015, the driver of a 2006 Ford Ranger pickup truck was killed after colliding with an object in the road. The truck’s airbag module had deployed, and a subsequent autopsy revealed what appeared to be a gunshot wound in the driver’s neck. The suspected source of the wound was a metal fragment slug from the driver’s side airbag module located in the steering wheel of the truck. MVA Scientific Consultants was asked by the coroner’s office to determine the composition of the slug recovered from the driver and to determine the source of the slug.
Microcrystal Tests for the Identification of Illicit Drugs: Heroin, Hydrocodone, Hydromorphone, MDMA, Methadone, and Methylphenidate
Kelly M. Brinsko, M.S.; Dean Golemis, B.A.; Meggan B. King, B.S.; Gary J. Laughlin, Ph.D.; and Sebastian B. Sparenga, M.S.The Microscope 65:3, pp. 107–142, 2017
https://doi.org/10.59082/MRNE3964
Abstract: The Microscope is publishing monographs from McCrone Research Institute’s A Modern Compendium of Microcrystal Tests for Illicit Drugs and Diverted Pharmaceuticals (4th revision: September 13, 2021), which contains 19 different drugs and their microcrystal test reagents. This issue includes monographs for the following drugs/reagents:
• heroin/mercuric chloride• heroin/mercuric iodide• hydrocodone/platinum bromide• hydromorphone/platinum bromide• hydromorphone/sodium nitroprusside• MDMA/gold chloride• methadone/mercuric chloride• methadone/mercuric bromide• methylphenidate/picric acid• methylphenidate/lead iodide solution
The previous set of monographs were published in issue, 65:2 (2017): 1-benzylpiperazine (BZP) with platinum bromide, clonazepam with platinum chloride , codeine with Marme's reagent, codeine with Fulton's O-2, codeine with Fulton's C-3, diazepam with platinum chloride, diazepam with ammonium thiocyanate and l-ephedrine with gold bromide and l-ephedrine with gold chloride. Monographs for remaining microcrystal tests will be published in subsequent issues.
Microscope Past: 80 Years Ago | By Way of Introduction
Arthur L.E. BarronThe Microscope 65:3, p. 143, 2017
Originally published in The Microscope, Vol. 1, Issue 1, p.1, 1937
Excerpt: Page 1 of the “first number” of The Microscope edited and published by Arthur Barron, Ltd., London (1937).
Afterimage | “SpongeBob”
JoAnn Buscaglia
The Microscope 65:3, p. 144, 2017
A decorative painted surface on an absorbent kitchen mat taken with a Samsung Galaxy S5 smartphone camera with a portable, reflected-light microscope lens attachment; field of view is ~1–2 mm.
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