New Scientist Live
Saturday 10th to Monday 12th October 2026
NOT FINISHED
We have been to New Scientist Live, held annually at ExCeL in London, a few times as part of our microscopy outreach programme, but this was probably the last time. The event attracts several thousand visitors, much more than any of our other outreach events.
Quekett members Mark Papp, Stephen Parker, Chris Thomas and Alan Wood brought various microscopes and interesting specimens to show to visitors.
We had a large number of visitors over the three days of the festival, including children, families, scientists, retired people and other exhibitors. We hope that some of them will come to our meetings, excursions or outreach events, or join the Club, the Anglian Microscopy Group or the Milton Microscopy Group.
Stephen Parker brought a digital microscope with a built-in LED screen that he had modified to demonstrate transmitted polarised light. He used an small LED light box on the base, with a piece of polarising film on top as the polariser. For the analyser, he used another piece of polarising film taped over the camera lens. His specimens included thin rock sections and crystals.
Stephen also brought an Open University inverted microscope for reflected light, to view specimens such as integrated circuits and computer chips. He had removed the eyepiece and replaced it with an AmScope eyepiece camera sending images to a small portable computer.
Stephen Parker’s exhibit
Mark Papp brought a stereo microscope with built-in reflected and transmitted light. His specimens included some fresh stinging-nettle leaves, a piece of Madagascan copal with several beetles embedded in it, lichens, several prepared microscope slides and some EPROM memory chips.
Alan Wood brought one of the Natural History Museum Pocket Microscopes, a small stereo microscope and an Olympus CH-2 compound microscope. His specimens included a variety of prepared microscope slides, feathers, and sand samples in coin capsules.
Alan’s microscope slides
Cucurbita t.s. stem sieve tubes
Daffodil ovary
Ceratophyllus gallinae female
Red fox GH2 guard hair
Parakeet feather under NHM Pocket Microscope
Ring-necked parakeet feather
Sand samples in coin capsules
Sand from Harlyn Bay in Cornwall
Alan also brought a laptop computer with a PowerPoint show of photomicrographs taken by Quekett members.
On the first day, a representative from ioLight joined us to demonstrate their new Compact Cell Imager. This microscope fits inside incubators and small experiments, is sealed against humidity and CO2 atmospheres, has a wireless connection to allow external display of cell images, and a programmable illuminator for low-contrast applications.
Report and most photographs by Alan Wood