My sister has the habit of nail biting. I took a chip of her nail to look under the foldscope. I was confused to see the type of cells. Was it deposition of keratin or something else? To have a clear view, I stained it with safranine. I am sure after looking at these pictures…
Category: Chemistry
Anything chemical, crystals, precipitates etc.
Ginger peel and fibres under foldscope
Ginger – an ingredient of every Indian kitchen is botanically a rhizome ( an underground stem). The stem has distinct nodes and internodes. Many numerous fibres were present which were stained with safranine prior to foldscopy. Under the foldscope the cells of the peel were parenchymatous and seen filled with numerous starch grains, while the…
Table sugar with polarizers
For this, I mixed regular table sugar with tap water and let it air dry. Then observed this at the edge.
Polythene under foldscope
green polythene under the scope loof like somewhat a leaf
Cashew peel under foldscope
I am excited to share my foldscope click of cashew peel. Can anybody guide what is being viewed as I am unable to make out these beautiful stripes. I simply know that cashew are a rich source of fats and a few vitamins. In autumn break I had been to Goa on the college trip…
Are these Spirogyra and Rotifer?
These green structures were growing on mud. What are the chances that this is a species of Spirogyra? Looking at this, it seemed like sexual reproduction was going to occur… And its cell wall shows birefringence! Lurking in these algal jungle was a creature strange. It was a rare sight that I could get…
Crystals view through Foldscope
With instruction from my mentor Dr Pebam Munindro Singh, I started my trial observation of some crystals with Foldscope. It’s beautiful, exciting, thrilling and taken into the world of curiosity.
Hyaluronic Acid dried on slide
I put a drop of a Hyaluronic acid solution on the slide. I didn’t see anything with brightfield/polarizing microscopy. I looked at it again 2 days after it had dried, with one polarizing filter, then both and finally with polarizing filters and a “frugal” compensator (the coverslide in our Foldscope kits).
freezing water
need to watch closely to see freezing of water. using foldscope- placed drop of water on glass slide. used freezer in fridge for freezing water. captured it immediately.
common salt and sugar under foldscope.
common salt sugar foldscope can be used in studying crystalline structures. definitely a study tool for students
Capillary action occuring on paper
One thing we often do while preparing any wet mount is removing excess of mounting medium; mainly by making use of blotting paper. Wondered how blotting paper takes up the excess medium so quickly? A phenomenon called capillary action comes into play. Blotting paper consists of several hydrophilic substances and water (most common mounting media)…
Fiery foldscoping!
I was curious about how chemical reactions would look like, microscopically. Particularly, combustion. However, observing one on foldscope wasn’t easy as putting the flap on would immediately extinguish any burning object. That could be solved easily by not putting the flap (it was obvious). However recording a burning object and even taking care to record…
Polarized explorations part 2
Hello everyone, There are going to be tons of pics in this post so I better limit the words. I have foldscoped 3 compounds here – Citric acid , L-cysteine and Potassium dichromate. Recrystallized Citric acid Just while I was foldscoping these citric acid crystals an orange caught my attention! I thought Why not try…
Polarized light foldscopy
I finally got myself a polarizing film. By this I can now polarize the light falling on the sample by placing the film between the light source and the sample and further by placing another film between the lens and the eye/camera I can block the same polarized light so that only light whose polarization…
8-Hydroxyquinoline-5-sulphonic acid crystals under polarized light.
@Laksiyer initially gave the idea to view it under polarized light. So got hold of an old Nokia Screen that was lying around and made use of the LCD screen as a polarizing filter. it isn’t pretty but does the work.
8-Hydroxyquinoline-5-sulphonic acid crystals
The work that is done in our lab mostly involves 8Hydroxyquinoline and Porphyrin. This is 8-Hydroxyquinoline-5-sulphonic acid.
Inculcating Research Culture Right From Schools
As a part of TIFR, Hyderabad’s efforts to facilitate better science education in the local schools, it now interacts closely with four of the Telangana Social Welfare Residential Schools, all within 10 km from the institute. On regular close interactions with the teachers and students alike from the schools, we realized that schools are fast…
Yellow synthetic feathers
Yellow Synthetic feather
#Bio 60 Ibuprofen Dissolving
Ibuprofen was crumbled onto a glass slide. Water was then added by a dropper, which began to dissolve the medication.
Sample pictures
I’m using an older model of the Foldscope microscope, and I have been testing the microscope out on a variety of samples. The attached pictures are: [1] Blood; [2 – 3] Fruit fly; and [4] Salt. Dino
Hacking A Lower Powered Foldscope
Recently, I decided to undertake a search for micrometeorites (you can read more about them here). Since a good portion of micrometeorites are ferrous, you can use a magnet to search for them. However, not all samples of ferrous particles are potential micrometeorites, so you will have to examine them. I already have a handheld…
Video: Middle School Tech Review
Real tools lead to real work at Opportunity Middle School in Concord, NC. Using microscopes, foldscopes, and laser lens hacked cheap fire tablets, our students are opening up their world, all on their own. With only a couple of takes after stumbling over the term “microscope,” these 7th and 8th graders free-styled this video to…
The secret about lice
On December the 6th I got lice on my head. I was curious to see what it was. So me and my Dad took two lice that I had on my head and put it under the Foldscope. I learned lots of new things about lice. I learned that lice are insects because they have…
A Sweet Perspective– By: Keerthi Padmanabhan
Today I saw a grain of sugar under the foldscope. In the pictures I took, it was very hard to focus, so the images look a little blurry. I saw that the sugar grains I looked at were rectangular in shape and saw that many of the grains were stuck together. Here is how they…
Microcosms of marine plastic debris
Hello Foldscope Community, I am Mandy Barker a photographer from the UK who has been photographing marine plastic debris recovered from the world’s oceans for many years. The motivation for my work is to raise awareness about the vast amount of plastic entering our oceans, affecting ecosystems, biodiversity, marine life and ultimately ourselves. Using the Foldscope I…
Foldscope in the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos
The Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos is the most Antique University in America, where diverse events in the history of science and technology in Peru have aroused. “Sanmarquinos”, as they are usually called, have contributed and continue contributing to all aspects of the scientific development in Peru and the world. Medical Sciences represent one…
Products from the Sea
You might know that some of the products you use every day contain ingredients that come from the ocean. From calcifying microorganisms to algae, marine ecology plays a role right in our homes. Carrageenen, for example, is a thickening agent that is extracted from red algae. Products that often contain ocean-borne ingredients are sunscreen, makeup, and toothpaste….