It was a great experience organizing this workshop for school students in Pune at the National Centre for Microbial Resource (NCMR-NCCS) with Dr. Praveen Rahi’s help. The students had a great time, and it was wonderful to see the excitement on their faces as they assembled their Foldscope and viewed all sorts of samples. I…
Category: Nature
Things connected to observations in ecological context
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.
Black knot fungus
This knotty, black growth on a tree branch is black knot fungus (Dibotryon morbosum). It infects cherry, plum, apricot and chokecherry trees and kills the infected part of the tree and provides a habitat for insects. Treatment is fungicides and cutting the affected branch several centimetres below the infected site.
Having a look in the hindgut of termites
If you get a chance to go to Yosemite by car, you should see an insane number of rotten logs in the woods. A ranger explained to me that it’s because of a snow storm causing toppling of trees. All those logs on the floor are progressively rotting and eventually in spring will form a…
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…
The T.S petiole of Ficus religious( peepal)
The petiole of ficus religious in the center its arrangement is ring like structure in which all vascular bundles are arranged in parallel manner
Cells of red leaves of Poinsettia
The bright petals of Poinsettias, which look like flowers, are actually the bunch of upper leaves of the plant, called bracts. Poinsettia flowers are small, green or yellow, and grow inconspicuously in the center of each leaf bunch. The ancient Aztecs (the Mexican Indians) prized the Poinsettia as a symbol of purity. Centuries later, Mexico’s…
One day workshop on Foldscope at Baghmundi village of Purulia, West Bengal, India
Department of Environmental Science, University of Calcutta, in collaboration with Howrah Vigyan Chetna Samannaya, organised a one day workshop on the morning of 15th April 2019 at Bongada Bidu Chandan Birda Gaarh Primary School, Purulia, West Bengal, India. Introductory Session- The session started with giving a basic idea of how small our naked eyes can…
ONE DAY WORKSHOP ON FOLDSCOPE AT ULIDIAH PRIMARY SCHOOL, PURULIA, WEST BENGAL, INDIA
A one-day workshop was conducted in an underprivileged primary School of Purulia, West Bengal, India Ulidiah Primary School on 13th April 2019 where the students have hardly heard the name of the microscope. To them, The concept of the microscope was in itself a fascinating thing. When a paper microscope was introduced to them, they…
One day workshop on Foldscope at Purulia
Department of Environmental Science, University of Calcutta, organised a one day workshop at C.S.N High School, Balarampur, Purulia, West Bengal, India on 13th April 2019. Introductory Session- The workshop started with Dr. Punarbasu Chaudhuri, giving the basic idea of foldscope and the microscopic world to the participants. The participants were students of standard 6 to…
Cape Town Escapades with Foldscope!
To the many Foldscoping thrills ahead of me in Cape Town! If you were to tell me a year ago that I’d be in Cape Town for a quarter off my university studies, I probably would’ve looked left and right, then accepted my ignorance by saying “Uhh, what? Where exactly is Cape Town, and what’s…
ROLE OF FOLDSCOPE IN ORGANIC FARMING
Department of Environmental Science, University of Calcutta, organised a workshop on “Role of Foldscope in Organic Farming” at Vivekananda Institute of Biotechnology, Sri Ramkrishna Ashram, Nimpith, West Bengal, India on 6th April, 2019. Introductory phase- In this phase, basic introduction of foldscope was given to all the participants. Demonstration Phase- In this phase, we demonstrated…
One day workshop on foldscope at the Nature Study camp
Department of Environmental Science, University of Calcutta, organised a workshop on, “Magnify your curiosity- Explore The Microcosmos with Foldscope” at Joygopalpur, West Bengal, India on 27th March 2019. Introductory phase- The workshop started with giving a basic idea of nature to the participants. After that, a brief idea of the microscopic world was given to…
One day workshop on Foldscope at Dakshin Kalikata Sevasram, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Dakshin Kalikata Sevasram is situated at Sarat Bose Lane, Kolkata, West Bengal. It is a home for boys belonging to the impoverished background. It was established in 1924 by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. A one-day workshop on, “Magnify Your Curiosity Explore the Microcosmos” was organised by Department Of Environmental Science, University of Calcutta, at Dakshin…
Foldscopy
Pollen grain of common ornamental shrub “red bird flower”
Spirogyra
Spirogyra
Leptolyngbya
Leptolyngbya
Workshop on foldscope assembly and its application in sericulture to farmers of Khowang ,Assam
A batch of 63 Sericulture farmers of Khowang district, Dibrugarh Assam India were trained under DBT funded project on foldscope assembly and how to use it for detection of diseases in silkmoth and its eggs. (i.e mother moth examination). We tried to have an interactive session on difficulties faced while rearing and disease control,thus how…
Molted exoskeleton of an insect
I’ve been noticing these odd, insect-like things on my softboard for quite a long time now. I hadn’t been brave enough to touch them, but since they hadn’t moved in forever, I decided to take a closer look. While I mounted it on my slide with forceps, I realized that it was flimsy, and seemed…
Technological Exhibition Fair-SKUAST-K
Educating Youth, School Children, Farmers, Scientists, Dignitaries, TV correspondents and others about ‘Use Of Foldscope For Detection Of Fake Saffron’. This is the first report on such use from anywhere in the world and is being standardized in our lab. Excellent and successful two days at Technology Exhibition Fair (Kissan Mela) at SKUAST-K on 9th…
Caltech Water Flea
Image taken 4/15/2019 at 4:50 pm at lily pond in front of Ramo auditorium. A pipette was used to obtain a small sample of water from the rotting muck at the bottom of the pond and was imaged on a glass slide with coverslip using a Moto G4 camera. It appears that the organism in…
Day 1 – Puerto Montt to Huinay #fjordbiología #chilefoldscope #MicroToxMap
Adam and I, arrived in Puerto Montt after a long journey. Imagine an interesting city in the North of Patagonia that none of the Chileans we met seems to like. We got a chance to visit IFOP where Jorge, our host, is working. Jorge is the reason we came to this side of the world….
Leaf Structure
This is a photo I took using the foldscope of the vein structure of a leaf
Leaf
I took a cool photo of a leaf with my Foldscope that I wanted to share.
Photo of Caltech Pond Water
The image is of a Caltech pond water sample, zoomed in enough to reveal various microscopic features such as possible pond gunk. The water was obtained at 6:50 pm on 4/8/19. The water sample was from the BBB Lily Pad Pond and it was acquired by sticking a falcon tube into the pond. I am…