Drag and drop or click to uploadJPG, PNG, or HEIC (max. 2 MB per file)
Subject
Organism
Movement type
Confidence
Microscope setup
Magnification
Stain / mount
Illumination
Sample source
Source
Water type
Location
Coordinates
Notes
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Peter Krisanpeterkrisan@gmail.com
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Build your ideal journal form once, then reuse it every time. Templates let you pick and configure which fields appear.
Get started with Microcosms
Welcome to Microcosms, where you can learn all about the tiny creatures living all around you and keep a journal of everything you discover.
What you'll learn
In the next few articles, we'll cover everything you can do in the app to support your microscopy journey — from looking up organisms in the Field guide to documenting your finds in a journal entry.
Up next: — your built-in database for learning about and identifying microorganisms.
Field guide
The Field guide is your database for learning all about microorganisms. Use it to:
Learn about organisms — browse entries to discover what different organisms look like, where they live, how they move, and pick up a few interesting facts along the way.
Identify your finds — spotted a living creature under your microscope and not sure what it is? Compare what you're seeing against the entries to narrow it down.
Not sure what a piece of data means? Hover over the question mark (?) next to any field to see a plain-language explanation. You'll find these throughout the app wherever a term might be unfamiliar.
Up next: — how to document everything you find.
Journaling
Journal entries are where you document your microscopy findings. Think of your journal as a growing record of everything you've observed — a personal logbook of your time at the microscope.
Each entry can capture as much or as little detail as you like. Here's what you can record:
Photos
Add photos of what you saw directly to your entry. Supported formats are JPG, PNG, and HEIC, up to 10 MB per file.
Subject
Organism — what you observed (or your best guess)
Movement type — how it moved across your field of view
Confidence — how sure you are about the identification
Stain / mount — any stain or mounting method you used
Illumination — your lighting setup
Sample
Sample site — where the sample came from
Source — the origin of your sample
Water type — for water samples
Location — where you collected it
Coordinates and Map link — pin the exact spot
Notes
A free space to jot down anything else — observations, questions, or things to follow up on later.
You don't have to fill in every field. Capture what's useful to you, and skip the rest.
Up next: — a step-by-step walkthrough.
Creating a journal entry
Journal entries help you document your microscopy findings, one observation at a time. Here's how to make one.
Open the Journal and select New entry.
Give your entry a subject — the organism you observed, or your best guess if you're not sure yet.
Add photos of what you saw (JPG, PNG, or HEIC, up to 10 MB each).
Fill in your microscope setup, like magnification, stain or mount, and illumination, so you can recreate the view later.
Record where your sample came from — the site, source, and location.
Add any notes you want to remember.
Save your entry. It's now part of your journal and you can come back to edit it anytime.
Tip: Stuck on identification while writing your entry? Open reference mode to view a Field guide entry side by side with your journal — more on that next.
Up next: .
Using reference mode
Reference mode lets you open a Field guide entry — the page for a specific microorganism — in a side-by-side view next to your journal. That way you can compare the reference against what you're seeing and work through your identification without losing your place.
To use it, open a journal entry, then open the Field guide entry you want to compare against in reference mode. The two appear side by side, so you can match up movement, shape, and features as you write.
It's the fastest way to go from "what is that?" to a confident identification.
Up next: .
Pinning entries
Working on several journal entries at once, or coming back to the same research over a longer stretch of time? Pin an entry to your sidebar for easy access.
Pinned entries stay within reach in your sidebar so you don't have to search for them each time. Pin the ones you're actively working on, and unpin them when you're done to keep your sidebar tidy.
Up next: .
Achievements
As you explore, you'll collect trophies for the milestones you reach along your microscopy journey. Achievements are there to celebrate your progress and keep you motivated — a fun way to mark how far you've come and to nudge you toward trying something new.
Keep observing, keep journaling, and watch your collection grow.