The Microscope – Volume 72, Second Quarter 2025

IN THIS ISSUE
On the cover
Potassium carbonate by light microscopy, recrystallized by evaporation from an aqueous solution. This photomicrograph by Martin Dähnrich — Berlin-Chemie AG, was selected as Best Overall at the Inter/Micro 2025 Photomicrography Competition in Chicago.
Editorial | Calling All Microscopists
Gary J. LaughlinThe Microscope 72:2, p. ii, 2025https://doi.org/10.59082/SMDE8910 Excerpt: This is now becoming a good habit and marks the second year that The Microscope reports on all of the Inter/Micro happenings in the second-quarter issue of this quarterly journal. This can't happen without the hard work and dedication of the presenting and contributing authors and a full Inter/Micro program in the spring each year, and not without all of the microscopists from far and wide that come together to make this the microscopy meeting of all meetings...for the past 77 years.
Inter/Micro 2025 — International Microscopy Conference
Gary J. LaughlinThe Microscope 72:2, pp. 51–63, 2025https://doi.org/10.59082/AZHS9097 Abstract: McCrone Research Institute hosted the 77th Anniversary Inter/Micro microscopy conference on June 10–13, 2025. Inter/Micro is the premiere and longest running annual meeting for professional and amateur microscopists from all areas of light and electron microscopy since it first began in 1948. This year, professional and amateur microscopists from around the world gathered together in Chicago to present their latest research, newest discoveries, and specialized techniques, to help solve analytical problems with practical solutions in various fields of microscopy and microanalysis. This year's author and technical paper presentation schedule was followed by a two-day, hands-on workshop on paper fiber microscopy and analysis.
The Effects of Over-Lubrication of a Firearm on Discharged Cartridge Cases
Olsmael Merisier and Peter Diaczuk The Microscope 72:2, pp. 64–70, 2025 https://doi.org/10.59082/WYHP5984 Abstract: Forensic firearm examination can be used in forensic investigations to determine if a recovered bullet or cartridge case was fired from a specific firearm. While the use of ballistics evidence has been widely accepted in criminal courts, there are still limitations to the process, starting with how the condition of the firearm before or after the crime could change the marks left behind on the projectiles and cartridge cases. For example, some firearm modification can alter markings, preventing the association between a firearm and fired ammunition components received as evidence. This project aims to explore how the modification of firearm lubrication affects the striations left on a recovered cartridge case. This is done by analyzing recovered cartridge cases fired in dry and lubricated firearm conditions under the comparison microscope. The overall goal is to examine the cartridge cases fired from the same firearm with the same level of lubrication to determine if and how lubrication conditions impact the stria left on those cartridge cases. It was concluded that over-lubricating the firearm leads to inconsistencies in the striation pattern of the cartridge cases. The results from this project could address one of the potential factors that affect limitations in firearm examination and provide firearm examiners with information helpful during the examination process, and hence the conclusion-making process.
A Practical Procedure to Determine the Sample Size for Asbestos Analysis by Transmission Electron Microscopy
Shu-Chun Su The Microscope 72:2, pp. 71–76, 2025 https://doi.org/10.59082/NIWK3203 Abstract: An accurate and valid analysis of asbestos has significant implications for public health, environmental safety, regulatory compliance, and financial accountability. Asbestos analysis comprises two key components: the qualitative identification of asbestos and the quantitative assessment of its concentration. Ensuring the accuracy and validity of the quantitative analysis is crucial. Quantitative asbestos analysis by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) must meet rigorous standards to ensure defensibility in regulatory and legal contexts. The accurate determination of asbestos concentration relies on the use of statistically justified sample masses, particularly when addressing claims involving low levels of asbestos concentration.
The Last Pollock
Nicholas Petraco, Nicholas D.K. Petraco, and Colette Loll The Microscope 72:2, pp. 77–85, 2025 https://doi.org/10.59082/WYNS8488 Abstract: This paper presents the story of a long journey to authentication for an untitled painting, claimed to be by Jackson Pollock’s hand. The painting known as Untitled, Red, Black and Silver (RBS) is an abstract expressionist oil-on-canvas board painting, said to have been created in the summer of 1956, weeks before Pollock was killed in a tragic automobile accident. RBS has been the subject of a long-standing disagreement between the artist's girlfriend, Ruth Felicity Kligman, and his estranged wife, Lee Krasner. Ms. Kligman claims that she saw Pollock painting RBS in the summer of 1956 on her used canvas board and that when Pollock completed the work, he gave the painting to her. Mrs. Pollock asserted that the painting was a fake. Lee Krasner died on June 19, 1984. In the early 1990s, Ruth Kligman presented RBS to the newly created 2nd Pollock-Krasner Authentication Committee. At that time, the committee offered to place RBS into Pollock’s Supplement Catalogue Raisonné, published in 1995, in a section listing works needing more study. Kligman rejected the offer. After Ms. Kligman died in 2010, her estate trustees requested a full forensic assessment of RBS, which is presented in this paper.
Critical Focus | From Pond Life to Powerhouse
Brian J. Ford The Microscope 72:2, pp. 86–96, 2025https://doi.org/10.59082/TPCI4745 Excerpt: We all know the algae, yet taxonomists do not recognize them as a legitimate group, even though algae are the single most important class of organisms on Earth. The oxygen on which we survive? Created by algae. The limestone which defines our landscape, and from which we have created our finest buildings, from the pyramids of Giza to the Empire State Building? Algae. What absorbs much of that extra carbon dioxide and helps to regulate the global climate? The algae. What gives birth to the food web of all life in the oceans, helps to purify water, produces biofuels, and is one of the fastest-growing health-food sectors in the world? Algae, of course. Every living creature on Earth depends upon green plants – and how did they become green? You guessed it.
Copyright © 2025 Microscope Publications, Division of McCrone Research Institute. All rights reserved.