Thread by @samezrael

I Review Microscope Emojis So You Don't Have To: a thread 🔬

if there's anything high school biology taught us it's that t̶h̶e̶ ̶m̶i̶t̶o̶c̶h̶o̶n̶d̶r̶i̶a̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶o̶w̶e̶r̶h̶o̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶e̶l̶l̶ microscopes help us look at things too small to be seen with the naked eye! it's helped countless biologists for decades.

so many types of microscopes exist for various uses, but the most common one is the light (or optical) microscope. it uses lenses and a light source to magnify an image.

unsurprisingly, all of the microscope emojis 🔬 are based on the compound optical microscope, which is quite common. parts are listed below:

let's begin!
Mozilla: they went for a 2D look with a blue color. No adjustment knobs (!) and the stage is dangerously slanted. Probably still usable. 4/10

HTC: More minimalist than Mozilla's, it doesn't even seem to have a mirror or a light source. It looks sad. 3/10

LG: The screws on the arm indicate that it's adjustable, which the above emojis are not. The block below the stage could be a light source, who knows. Nice sleek metal finish. 4/10

Messenger: Finally, a good candidate. Two objectives, coarse adjustment knob, and adjustable arm hinge. HOWEVER the stage doesn't have a passageway for light. It doesn't have a mirror or light source at all. 5/10

EmojiDex: Very odd knob placement. Why are there 3? Still no light source whatsoever. 4/10

OpenMoji:

This is a desk lamp. 1/10

JoyPixels: Very generous of them to include three objectives. No knobs, which worries me since the stage is so far away. Also, can we talk about how unstable that arm looks. 5/10

Facebook: Looks structurally stable. The bottom platform is for a loght source, presumably. The inclusion of a glass slide on the stage is an adorable touch. 7/10

Twitter: Less microscope-y, more shrink ray-ey. A thicc boi. 4/10

WhatsApp: All the science emoji ranking threads generally laud WhatsApp for their good designs. That's true for this one too! The essentials are all here. My only gripe is the lack of light passageway on the stage. 9/10

Samsung: I can't explain it but this microscope looks evil to me. 6.66/10

Microsoft: What the hell is this. You'd expect a company with "micro" in its name to nail it. This is a 19th century microscope. 🤧/10

Google: 3 objectives and a red finish?? that is so sexy idc idc. Not so sure about the convex illumination mirror though. 8.5/10

Apple: Oh god I thought the twitter one was thicc. I am legitimately afraid of this microscope. Everything is so exaggerated, the more I look at it the less I know what a microscope looks like. Nice metallic finish. 6/10

Well that's all of them! I still have no idea what a 🔬 emoji would be used for in real life, but it sure is fun to learn about life we don't even realize is there! #scicomm

(thread inspo from below):

https://twitter.com/physicsJ/status/1232662211438370817?s=19