Onion peel
Onion peel
A Very Small Thanksgiving
With how busy the end of the semester was becoming, Thanksgiving Break was a welcome reprieve from all the work piling up for me. Unfortunately, that meant using Thanksgiving Day as a day to do work on. Fortunately, Thanksgiving means lots of different kinds of foods to eat. Thanks to my mother for cooking all…
Pics taken on 25/11/2021(Foldscope assembled by me)
Spotted Lantern Fly: A Beautifully Close View
As part of Robert Pringle’s EEB321 class assignment, I went out to find a specimen worthy of the Foldscope’s function. I was very excited to get the opportunity to utilize a Foldscope for the second time, as I had the chance to use one in Kenya with some very cool insects a couple years back….
Troubleshooting with Several Samples from a Tree
I conducted this project as part of Professor Pringle’s EEB321 class at Princeton University. The image below features the leaf sample I examined with my constructed Foldscope. I selected this leaf sample as well as bark and fruit samples from the same tree outside Lewis Science Library at Princeton University. I first attempted to examine…
Looking Closely: Patterns Within an Eastern Redbud
Since first coming to Princeton, I have always been intrigued by the trees here. In fact, for my EEB325 (Ecology: Species Interactions, Biodiversity and Society) class, I chose to do my course project on leaf senescence of native versus non-native tree species at Princeton University. While walking to the hockey rink recently, looking for an…
Exploring Leaf Structures!
This year, Professor Pringle’s EEB321 (Ecology: Species Interactions, Biodiversity and Society) class at Princeton University was given the opportunity to explore the image enhancing capabilities of foldscopes – printable microscopes made for only a dollar each. In class, we each built our own foldscope and were encouraged to explore with it. I focused on attempting…
Blister-y Fun
This past weekend, I had the fortune of cheering my big sister on as she ran in her very first marathon in Philadelphia! One of the consequences of training for long distance running, however, is that my sister’s feet are…gnarly. As a former dancer, I’m used to feet covered in bruises and blisters, but I…
Wingin’ It
Princeton University has transformed into a lanternfly graveyard. A few weeks ago, I turned the basement of McCosh Hall into a cadaver lab. Excited to use a Foldscope for the first time, I searched campus for a specimen that would allow enough light to filter through so that I could make a clear observation. After…
Colorado Blue Spruce (Picea pungens)
The sample I conducted this project as part of Professor Pringle’s EEB321 class at Princeton University. With a Foldscope ready to use, I collected a sample of the first plant that caught my eye on a sunny day– a blue spruce. I always pass by this tree, knowing that it probably was put there by…
“Leaf” Science to the Foldscope
Can you guess what the image is? Of course you did, it’s in the title. Even without that that, thought, you probably guessed it immediately… But do you know what kind? This, my friends, is an incredibly intimate view of Japanese Pachysandra (Pachysandra terminalis), harvested from the outskirts of McCosh Hall. Look at those little…
A fuzzy, white blanket
There is nothing that compares to a bite of fresh, vibrant fruit on a gentle spring day. Yet even during the chilly months, my sweet tooth never stops. So you could imagine my excitement when my roommate gifted me with an armful of blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries. I stashed them in my fridge only…
Apple!!
I’ve always thought apples have a unique texture. I don’t want to speak for everyone, but a good apple has some obligatory requirements: the skin needs to be good, the apple needs to be moist but also crisp, and it should never be mushy. I decided to examine on the microscope a small sample of…
Black Locust Leaf
I conducted this project as a part of Professor Pringle’s EEB321 class at Princeton University. After searching around outside, I found a leaf small enough to fit in the foldscope–potentially from a black locust tree. The leaf was yellow but appeared dark brown under the foldscope and I was able to get a view of…
Analyzing Leaf Structures!
On November 9, 2021, our EEB321 lab constructed Foldscopes, which are $1 microscopes created by Manu Prakash of Stanford University. As we were right in the middle of the fall season, the leaves around us were turning yellow and red, and many of them had fallen onto the ground. Although I walk around the campus…
A Surprising Speck
I have always thought leaf cells are beautiful because of their chlorophyll green pigmentation and rigid cell walls that make them look like tiny boxes. Thus, once I had assembled my Foldscope, the first thing I wanted to investigate was a leaf. I collected my sample by plucking a bright green ivy leaf from the…
Autumn Autopsy
Living in the Mid-Atlantic means living through 4 distinct seasons, every single year. 4 different lives, 4 different climates, and 4 different times, complete with their own characteristics and narratives that shape every year as they pass. I’ve been thinking a lot about the anthropocene, and what life looks like because of human intervention; what…
Samara (Helicopter Seeds)
I conducted this project as part of Professor Pringle’s EEB321 class at Princeton University. This is a photo of part of a samara, the winged seeds produced by maple trees. They are also commonly known as “helicopter seeds”, “whirlers”, or “twisters.” Before this, I did not know much about them besides that they were EVERYWHERE…
Ivy League Ivy
I conducted this project as part of Professor Pringle’s EEB321 class at Princeton University. This was my first time hearing about Foldscopes and working with them. I grabbed this picture in lab with Ruby! When we went outside to look for samples I was so excited to look at thing under a microscope that shockingly…
Bug within a bug
I conducted this project as part of Professor Pringle’s EEB321 class at Princeton University. The plan was to look at a tardigrade under my Foldscope. In high school I learned about the existence of these amazingly hardy creatures and they’ve been one of my favorite animals ever since. Knowing that they can be found on…
Leaf Life
I conducted this project as part of Professor Pringle’s EEB321 class at Princeton University. I had never used a fold scope before, and was excited to see clear, interesting images through the lenses. One of my best images was the one shown here, which shows a small leaf that I found on the Princeton University…
Turning the Leaf
I obtained this sample during lab in Professor Pringle’s EEB 321 class; the sample is a broken-up piece of leaf from a plant outside our classroom window. This was my first time working with foldscopes, and I hadn’t worked with any form of microscope in a long time. That said, I was quite amazed how…
What Autumn “leaves” behind
In Princeton, New Jersey, autumn is in full swing. There are leaves all over campus. I personally love stepping on them to hear the crunch. With fall senescence upon us I thought it would be interesting to get a closer look at the leaves that I see constantly. One part of what makes Autumn people’s…
Survivor Succulents: A close look at Echeveria elegans
Over the last almost two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many people to take some time to reflect and spend time with themselves and their loved ones. However, one can only take so much introspection and instead it can be favorable to find new hobbies. For me, that involved adopting many, many succulents. As…
The human hair
I take this sample from the hair comb and i was amazed after seeing the hair
Little Cities
Learning about nature always makes me happy, but it’s mutualisms that really give me the warm fuzzies. Whether it’s anemones and clownfish, hummingbirds and flowers, or rhinos and oxpeckers, these collaborations are a nice reminder that nature isn’t always red in tooth and claw. So when I went to search for samples, I was immediately…
Know Your Enemy: Ladybugs (Coccinellidae)
One of the best things about my college experience so far has been my roommates. Well, the human ones, that is. Now in my third year, I have had my share of insect roommates as well. From spiders to stinkbugs to the dreaded cockroach, I thought I had seen the worst of the worst. But,…
the green of the trees and the world within
Instead of looking at dirt (because I did, but all I saw were black spots), I chose to look at bits of leaves instead.