Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

So I'm trying to view a cell in mitosis and I need to hold it in mitosis for a long time. The average time a cell is in mitosis is for 2 hours, but is it possible to expand that time for viewing?

It depends on how much you're willing to mess with the "alive-ness" of your cells. A common technique is to use some sort of fixing agent to "fix" the cell in its current state. Now, this does kill the cell in the process, and it also often requires playing around with chemicals that you might not have access to outside of a research lab. But investigating fixation may be a good place to start.