A foraminiferan captured through the Foldscope. Sand sample from Juhu Beach, Mumbai, India
Category: Biology
Anything biological
Foldscope Session for Summer School Students Workshop @IMScChennai
The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai is hosting ~70 school students as part of an 8 day Summer School Students Workshop 2018. This week the students assembled Foldscopes: We had just about enough time to try out our Foldscopes with various slides! Here’s an ant stuck in a slide: Here’s some stomata from a leaf:…
Bread mould
My first experience: getting acquainted with with Foldscope 🙂 Took stale bread piece, sprinkled some water, kept it a box for 2-3 days… A luxurious growth of mould covered the bread piece. Just picked a small amount of sample directly using a cello-tape and mounted it on the glass slide and observed under Foldscope.
Polychaete-Meiofauna-Eteone omata -Prostomium, Mouth and tail (posterior) region
Polychaete-Eteone omata Polychaete- Eteone omata
Study of pollen grains from honey and flower using foldscope
Pollen of honey sample collected from mangrove forest of Indian Sundarban Pollen grains of Dendropthae falcata Pollen grains of Acanthus ilicifolius Pollen grains of Carica papaya Pollen grains of Thespesia populnea
The Salty Microcosmos – 2
Centrifugation was a really good idea to get out those protozoans from sea water. So I centrifugated the sea water and used the denser parts at bottom of the tubes for observation. I added two rice grains to the centrifugate and observed after a day. Some observations : Added a drop of 1% Methylene Blue…
Mosquito Gut
Aedes aegypti belonging to the family Culicidae, a significant vector of dengue fever in South-East Asia, Africa, and in America, is of prime concern because of its global distribution range and disease transmission capability [ Specimen obtained From Communicable Disease Research Laboratory]
Tetrahymena oral apparatus
I prepared a slide with a PVC microwell sticker & a droplet of water containing Tetrahymena. This video looks at one well in particular, in which a large air bubble pressed a small water droplet to one side, condensing it into a crescent moon shape. The Tetrahymena within the water seem eager to escape. In the video above,…
A copepod waves hello
Hi Foldscopers! Copepod sighting from Kitakyushu, Japan! I would like to share a video of my friend Blair and I seeing a copepod for the first time on March 25th, 2018 with a Foldscope. I scooped some pond water with a paper cup (reused from picnic lunch) from a lily pond where a few koi fish…
GREAT RESOURCE! Book recommendation
Whether you are in the U.S. or not (like us) this is a wonderful resource for educators planning explorations of the microcosmos. The INTRODUCTION and background information is wonderful and the description and ID KEYS are wonderful!
Seagrass and Algae Activity Guides – Big Blue & the Zamboanguita Science High School
Big Blue Network recently introduced Foldscopes and gave two classes on seagrass and algae to the 9th grade class at the Zamboanguita Science High School on Negros Oriental, Philippines, at the invitation of Ma’am Luzviminda Abejero, head science teacher. Based on our experiences working with these classes, we have developed general guides for discovering seagrasses…
Imaging Tetrahymena thermophila cilia
Tetrahymena thermophila are covered by about 21 rows cilia each with about 30 cilia. These 600 odd cilia allow it to propagate by beating in a coordinated way. The cilia also surround the oral apparatus to sweep food into it. These cilia are probably in the 1 micrometer range and hence imaging them requires one…
The Salty Microcosmos – 1
About a month ago had visited a beach at Juhu, Mumbai. The reason was a talk at Prithvi theatre – Chai and Why? I hope most of the Mumbai-residents here might know about it. So after the talk, went to Juhu beach and collected some sea water. It was wonderful to have seen such a…
Honey bee tougue (Proboscis) -Apis dorsata-
Honey bee - Apis dorsata- mouth part-Proboscis
Wings of Trichogramma chilonis, an important biocontrol agent
Trichogramma chilonis is one of the most widely used biocontrol agents in India. This minute parasitoid is capable of parasitising the eggs of a number of lepidopteran pests on a variety of agricultural crops. [Specimen obtained from Omprakash Navik]
Tiny wonders in pond water @ DBT-Foldscope Workshop, India
This is the 1st time that I use my foldscope @ ICGEB workshop, India and the experience was just amazing. After waiting for 4 mins of plain silence finally got a glimpse of something mindblowing…so sharing that 1 special min was a must. Only wish I could identify what exactly it was! This is just…
கரப்பான் பூச்சியின்கால்
நாங்கள் கரப்பான் பூச்சியின் கால்களை நாங்கள் பதிவுசெய்துள்ளோம் கிளைநூலகம் கூத்தாநல்லூர் திருவாரூர் மாவட்டம்614101 ஶி
Stomates!
Stomates/stomata are pores present on epidermis of plant parts that facilitate gaseous exchange. This pore is bounded by guard cells which are modified parenchyma cells that regulate size of stomatal opening. Some playing with plants at home and one interesting plant at college led to these images. —————————————– Stomata on leaves of Catharanthus roseus, same epidermal peel…
Drosophila wings
Drosophila wings seen via foldscope.
Neoseiulus paspalivorus, an effective predator of the coconut eriophyid mite
Neoseiulus paspalivorus is a predatory mite capable of keeping the coconut eriophyid mite, Aceria guerreronis, under check within the confines of the coconut bracts.
The coconut eriophyid mite, Aceria guerreronis, cannot escape the foldscope!
The eriophyid mite, Aceria guerreronis, has been a persistent problem on coconuts in India since 1998. It is also viewed as a serious pest in several coconut-growing countries in Africa as well as in Sri Lanka and the Sultanate of Oman. [Three adult mites are prominent in the image]
மலர்களின் மகரந்தம்!
வணக்கம்! மடிப்பு நுண்ணோக்கி வழியே மலர்களின் மகரந்தத் துகள்களை கண்டு வியந்தோம். அப்புகைப்படங்களை உங்களுடன் பகிர்ந்து கொள்வதில் மகிழ்ச்சி அடைகிறோம். Dear sir! We are very happy to post the five photographs of pollen grains of five flowers. Thanks for proving such a wonderful foldscope to our school. With regards Students Panchayat Union Middle School Thenkuvalaveli Valangaiman taluk Tamilnadu India 612801
Anthers (A) and stigma (B) of flowers of lantana camara
ANTHERS PHOTO Anthers (A) and stigma (B) of flowers of lantana camara