Viruses cannot be seen with a conventional microscope, only with an electron microscope.
1. Nature and Science Podcast episode “The Unseen Universe” centers on Steve Gershmeisner’s scanning electron microscope images of microbes, cancer cells, and invertebrates.
2. Host Don Murphy introduces Steve as an electron microscopist with about 50 years of work and more than 10,000 scanning electron microscope images.
3. The episode asks how Steve captures the world that the human eye cannot see and how those images are shared with a wider audience.
4. Steve says childhood days spent outdoors without computers shaped his interest in streams, slow worms, and birds.
5. He describes studying zoology and botany, then zoology at university, before taking a job at the Royal College of Surgeons in England.
6. Steve says the Royal College of Surgeons gave him 25 years in an electron microscopy department with historical significance and many notable visitors.
7. He explains that light microscopes are limited by the wavelength of light, while electron microscopes use electrons and can theoretically magnify up to a million times.
8. Steve notes that electron microscopes require a vacuum and that modern instruments can cost between a quarter and a half a million pounds.
9. The conversation turns to a head louse image, which Steve uses to show how exoskeleton-bearing insects make strong scanning electron microscope subjects.
10. He explains the louse’s claws and flattened body as adaptations for moving through hair.
11. Steve says electron microscope images are black and white, so color must be added afterward for public viewing or explanation.
12. He describes using Photoshop for colorization and says he is starting to test AI tools that offer different color options for specialized images.
13. On SARS-CoV-2, Steve says viruses cannot be seen with a conventional microscope and only become visible through electron microscopy.
14. He links his COVID work to Professor Greg Towers and University College London, where infected cultured cells produced millions of viral particles.
15. Steve says he has studied 10 to 15 different viruses and uses that experience to identify structural differences with confidence.
16. The host argues that scientific images can help people understand invisible biology, and Steve says his goal is to make those images available beyond laboratories.
17. Steve describes gut bacteria as essential to human life and says different body sites, including the umbilicus, have distinct bacterial communities.
18. He says many of his colored images are produced by Caesar, an in-house colorist at the photo library, and notes that subtle color choices matter.
19. The episode has an interview format with back-and-forth explanation, screen sharing, and detailed commentary on individual images.
20. Listeners interested in microscopy, biology imagery, and visual science communication would likely enjoy it, while people wanting a fast narrative plot may skip it.
