I have been spotting empty shells of white colour on many tree trunks in Mumbai. I didn’t know what organism made them. This post is summary of journey I took to find out. The mystery remained unsolved for more than a year, but today another person made similar observation and posted on twitter and an…
Category: What is it?
What is this thing?
A beating heart, perhaps?
Our pond had been welcoming a lot of frog (or toad) visitors each night since the monsoon started. Recently, I found what I am pretty sure were frog eggs on the edge of the pond: they were jelly-coated, but pretty small, and not spherical – sort of shaped like pomegranate arils. When disturbed with a…
Perception on the Use of Foldscope as an Alternative Conventional Microscope (Philippines)
ABSTRACTThis study aimed to determine the feasibility of Foldscope to be an alternative microscope. This study also utilized a quantitative non-experimental correlational research design and employed purposive quota and availability sampling technique to senior high school students taking up Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) strand.Specifically, this study answered the following questions: (1) What is…
Wild Violets in My Yard
I examined three purple spring flowers in my yard (tulip, lilac, wild violet) expecting them to look similar at the cellular level. I was surprised how different they looked! Here is a picture of the wild violet. What are the little alien-like tentacles? See my other posts for pictures of the other flowers.
Where does dust comes from? Identifying the source of dust using a Foldscope
I have been thinking about the dust in my house for a while, does it come from outside or inside homes or both? How much our bodies contribute to it? What all we can find in house dust. Can this information be used to control dust. I did some online research but found contradictory information…
What is it?
I don’t know exactly what it is, but Looks like a type of larvae. Not sure
Insect Scorpion
This little insect is too small to be seen clearly with unaided eyes. It looks black in colour and it randomly bit me, it’s bite is just like a sting of a mosquito. I don’t know what it’s called hence, I name this little insect ‘Insect Scorpion’.
A pool of life!
I noticed a green layer (presumably algae) growing on the terracotta pots on my terrace. All the pots have greenish growth on them, but they all look very different. One pot had a layer which was considerably thicker, and easy to scrape off. I soaked bits of it in regular tap water and let it…
Hair
Hair
daphnia
Pulga de agua desde Xalapa, México.
A first taste of Foldscope App (in Spanish of course)
El día de hoy recibimos el tan esperado anuncio de la nueva aplicación para dispositivos móviles: Foldscope App. Con agrado escribimos desde esa app ahora mismo y constatamos que aunque necesita trabajo que pula varios detalles, la aplicación es hermosa. Para muestra compartimos con ustedes algunas fotografías de nuestros bichos más conocidos, esperando que esa…
Rice weevil in action.
Captured this interesting video of a rice weevil (Sitophilus oryzae) on day 1 of exploring with the Foldscope. Can someone please explain what exactly is happening here? I’m unable to figure out. If you can see, the weevil is trying to “get rid” of something with its hind legs. Is it an egg? Poop? Another…
App test post
Test
Garden pests – what’s really there?
I’m quite active in my garden these days, mainly because I’m retired and have the time, but also because a year or so ago I was given seeds and later I had my landscape done and planted many, many new plants. Now, my garden – both landscape plants and planter boxes – is thriving, but…
my skin
as i was cutting my nails but then I cut a little bit of my skin by accident and then put it in my foldscope. it looks intresting so this is my skin.
Microfauna around lichens
My friend Chandrika brought me a sample of these beautiful lichens from Bangalore, with the hope of finding Tardigrades in them. We soaked one of the samples in RO water. After 5-6 hours, with great enthusiasm I started to hunt for tardigrades but no luck! In every single sample I observed, that very familiar guest…
Iridescent Scales of Common Jay Butterfly.
Biology, Nature. Where do butterflies get their striking colors? Wing of a Common Jay (Graphium doson) Papilionidae . Butterflies actually get their colors from Ordinary(pigmented) and Structural color The ordinary comes from pigments Structural color is due to Iridescence
Foldscope: Muestras en seco, gotas de agua de estanque y algunos consejos.
Aprende a crear muestras con los portaobjetos de papel plastificado #JoinTheNode
White spots on leaves
Two posts about mysterious white spots on leaves posted by @SameerUno n @patilsaheb intrigued me so much that today morning I went out to look for such white spots on leaves. https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=188199 Near a dump I found such white spots on a cucumber-ish plant. https://t.co/eWcUaPjnvj (2/n)There were 3 hypothesis- @SameerUno thought it looks like pollens,…
Pond Sample Discovery
Recently, while in Hanmer, New Zealand, I took a water sample from the pond is Chisholm Park. After a bit of peering through my foldscope, I discovered this micoorganism that I at first thought was algae, the same as the surrounding plant matter. I then saw it move forward in a smooth, sliding fashion, leading…
Back to the Algae Sample: Strange Microorganism With Legs
Earlier in the month I put up a post showing some microorganisms I found in a sample I took from our horse’s water feeder that currently sprouts algae from every underwater surface, which were later identified as bdelloid rotifers by members of the community. Today I returned to the water feeder and took another sample,…
COMMON ALGAE
STUDENT NAMES: Keenisha, Jasmine, Pradeepthi, Suratha, Deekshitha and Jaanvi COLLEGE/SCHOOL: CMR National PU College, ITPL, Bangalore. SPECIMEN: Blue Bottle fly SPECIMEN OBSERVED AT: CMR National PU College at ITPL, Bangalore on 6th January 2020 We collected a sample of common algae growing in the gardens of our college and observed it under foldscope
Strange Microorganisms in Algae Sample
Noticing the algae covering the sides of the water feeder for our horse, I decided to take a sample and see if I could spot any microorganisms under the foldscope. As it turned out, I was in luck!I first noticed the creature on the right because of the strange mouth-like appendage at its centre, that…
Science engagement is new hope!
Congratulations Foldscope India for reaching a new milestone by training 100,000 kids. I am super proud of this amazing news. What an achievement! Very inspiring for Foldscope Iraq as an emerging movement. Your efforts are pushing us to do a lot more.Please read more for our vision (What, How and Why we do)… Thanks, Mo…