Post about a mind-blowing observation I made 2day: while coming from office I saw strange nodules on a plant leaves. Out of curiosity I plucked one leaf with nodules n brought home. My guess was it must bel disease which is causing abnormal growth. To check what these nodules made up of, I cut open…
Author: edurafi
How I am learning BOTANY
How I am learning BOTANY, a thread: I had studied botany in school and college but never found it as interesting as microbiology. So ultimately did masters in microbiology. I have been exploring microscopic world with the @TeamFoldscope, I always carry it with me. (1/n) I put anything I find interesting under the Foldscope and…
Pollens of Commelina diffusa
Pollens of Commelina diffusa as observed through the Foldscope. This is the second Commelina species I have seen in Mumbai. Approximate size of the pollen is 73 microns. #microscope #scicomm #science #sciencetwitter #ecology
Mystery of the dust on the edges of the ceiling fan
Ceiling fan attracts lot of dust, it forms thick border around d blade edges. I observed it under d Foodscope & saw something interesting. It has lot of thin-long threads & dust particles get attached to it.Dust particles must b coming frm vehicles but wht about threads? Where are they coming from? Also there is…
Wings of Acasis moth
Wings of Acasis moth as made up of tiny leaf like structures. Photos are taken at 140 magnification using the Foodscope. #scicomm #ScienceTwitter #wildwebs #ecology
Sprouted Matki under the Foodscope
These days whatever I eat also goes under the Foodscope. Was having sprouted Matki (Vigna aconitifolia), took thin section from the grain and observed under the Foodscope. This is what I saw👇#scicomm #sciencetwitter #microscopy #food https://t.co/fjwXHqYqtA
Pollens of Senna tora
Pollens of Senna tora as seen through the Foldscope. Approximate size of the pollens is 26 microns.
Pollens of Sadafuli or Catharanthus roseus and some Solanum species.
Pollens of Sadafuli or Catharanthus roseus and some Solanum species. Photos of the pollen taken with the Foldscope. 140x magnification.
Pollens of Cochliasanthus caracalla
Pollens of Cochliasanthus caracalla. Photographed with the Foodscope. Approximate size of the pollens is 64 microns.
Pollens of Indian Almond (Terminalia catappa)
Pollens of Indian Almond (Terminalia catappa), the tree is my neighbour. I just have to open my window and its there. Pollens look rectangular, approximate size is 30 microns.
Pollens of unidentified tree
Noticed a strange flower in TISS campus, tried to find its name but couldn’t. Can someone help me identify it? Photographed its pollens with d Foldscope, they look beautiful! Pollen size is ~60 microns. Need help in identifying name of plant.
Pollens of Firebush (Hamelia patens)
Pollens of Firebush (Hamelia patens) look like water droplets through the Foldscope. Approximate size of the pollen is 38 microns. Firebush is a commonly found plant in gardens.
Pollens of Calabash (Lagenaria siceraria)
Photographed and measured the pollens of a Lagenaria siceraria plant using the Foldscope. The plant also called as calabash, bottle gourd, or white-flowered gourd. Pollen size around 60 microns and beautiful!
Pollens of the Rain tree (Samanea saman)
Photographed and measured the size of the pollens of the Rain tree (Samanea saman) using the @TeamFoldscope. It is the most common tree in #Mumbai. The size of the pollen is around 119 microns and it is polyad of 24 to 32 grains.
How to measure the size of any object using the Foldscope.
When we observe objects under Foldscope, sometimes we want measure the size of the objects we are observing for various purposes. In this post I’m describing a method with which we can measure the size of the object.With the Foldscope deluxe kit, there are few grid slides with different grid sizes. I used a 0.5…
Pollens of of my favourite tree-Neem (Azadirachta indica)
Pollens of of my favourite tree-Neem (Azadirachta indica). I have lot of childhood memories associated with this tree, we used spend summer vacation around this tree. Photo taken with the Foldscope with reflected light.
Pollens of Tamarind (Tamarindus indica) or इमली.
Pollens of Tamarind (Tamarindus indica) or इमली. Pictures taken with three Foldscope using both reflected and transmitted light.
Pollens of the Thespesia populnea (Portia tree )
The pollens of Thespesia populnea (Portia tree ) look beautiful. There is variation in size, smaller one is around 70 microns and bigger one is 95 microns in size. Very common tree in Mumbai region. Photographed pollens using Foldscope.
Polyad Pollens of Madras Thorn or Manila Tamarind (Pithecellobium dulce)
Polyad is a type of pollen arrangement in which many pollens are joined together to create round structure. Pithecellobium dulce pollens are polyad. In Mumbai, near my house, Madras Thorn or Manila Tamarind is flowering right now. I collected its flowers and took pictures using Foldscope. Pollens look beautiful, each polyad must be around 30-50…
Two Types of Pollens of Cannonball (Couroupita guianensis) tree
The Cannonball (Couroupita guianensis) tree flower has two types of pollens. The bigger one of in triads, called as fodder pollens and smaller one is singular, known as fertile pollen.
Pollens of Gulmohar (Delonix regia)
Gulmohar (Delonix regia) tree is flowering in Mumbai and many other parts of India. I photographed its pollens using the Foldscope.
Pollens of Bluemink
Bluemink is very common in Aizawl city of Mizoram. Took a sample of pollens and observed under the foldscope. The pollens are very small, so had digitally zoom and take photo. Vivid colour is due the light arrangement (from the top).
Foldscope workshop for teacher/facilitators from community centres in M Ward area of Mumbai
Today I conducted a training session for 20 teachers/facilitators from 5 five different community centres who caters to slum children. I had microscopy sessions at each centre earlier and kids have asked me if they can get the foldscopes. I requested Shailja ma’am of DBT and she sent a box full of foldscopes. Thanks to…
Foraminifera in sand sample
Few weeks back had done two posts on foraminifera. I tried to look for it in the sand sample collected from Jaipur, India. Couldn’t find the foraminifera in that sample. I kept looking for it many different samples since then. Today, I was digging through the sand sample collected from the Girgaon chaupati (beach) in…
Unidentified larvae seen at Vishnu Nagar community centre in Mumbai
While conducting a foldscope session at Vishnu Nagar community centre in Mumbai collected water sample from outside the hall. The water was coming out of drainage pipe and there was lot of algal growth around it. When looked at it through foldscope saw a this organism. Please help in identifying.
Foldscope, children and fun!
Conducted two microscopy sessions at two different community centres in Mankhurd area of Mumbai. First Centre was in Indira Nagar and second Centre was in Janatha Nagar. In both the sessions we all had fun. Once children understood how foldscope works, they brought various samples to observe under the foldscope. The most interesting observation was…
Making science interesting for first generation learners
Bhim Nagar is a slum inside Maharashtra Nagar of Mumbai. TISS in collaboration with locals runs a community centre there. Children from first grade to tenth grade come to the community centre. Most of them are first time learners, and drop out rate is very high among these children. TISS survey showed that two most…
Microfossil: a successful hunt
I have been looking for microfossils from last month. Finally found one in sand sample collected from a beach in Mumbai.