LED Fluoresence Microscopy can be Cool(LED)
At CoolLED, we’re always up for a challenge – especially when that challenge is getting students excited about science.
In today’s age, where TikTok trends and Instagram reels seem to capture every ounce of attention, it’s easy to wonder if curiosity about the world might be fading a little.
Fortunately, that wasn’t the case at this year’s careers fair, held at John Hanson Community School.
It was a fantastic day, as always, filled with brilliant engagement from over 700 students who attended.
Sparking Interest in Science
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that science isn’t just something you read in textbooks – it’s all around us and, let’s be honest, TikTok might teach you the latest dance craze, but when was the last time it explained how fluorescence microscopy works?
Exactly.
This is where we come in. We had the chance to show the students that science isn’t some abstract, far-off concept. It’s tangible, it’s real, and, dare we say, it can even be fun!
And what better way to do that than by showing them something cool under a microscope?
A Day of Exploration at the Careers Fair
As we chatted with various groups about potential career paths and the qualifications they might need, we noticed that they were particularly intrigued when we explained how different wavelengths of light can affect a dyed sample, making it fluoresce like something straight out of a sci-fi movie.
It was a hands-on experience that opened the door to all sorts of interesting questions, from “What kind of cells are these?” to “What would you use fluorescence for?” – a question we were more than happy to dive into!
By the end of the day, we were pretty sure we had at least a few budding scientists on our hands, or at least a couple who might Google “fluorescence microscopy” once they got home…
Keeping the STEM Momentum Going
The careers fair at John Hanson Community School was, again, a brilliant experience, but we’re not stopping there!
Early next year, we’ll be attending the Get Inspired event, followed by TeenTech – two more fantastic opportunities to keep this momentum going and continue engaging with the students of today. We’ll be there, ready to showcase more fascinating science, (including showing them how to split white light using a home-made spectrometer) and hopefully, plant a few more seeds of curiosity along the way.
Because in the end, we’re not just about making amazing LED illumination systems (although we do that too); we’re about helping people see the world in new ways.
And if a few students walk away from these events feeling a little more curious about how things work, then we’ve done our job.
CoolLED specialises in LED microscope lighting and, since our team of four introduced the first commercially available LED microscope light source in 2006, we have led the way in designing and manufacturing cutting edge LED Illuminators for Microscopes using the latest technology.
