Using the Foldscope in Poland

Aug 20, 2024 • 2:27 PM UTC

Stare Miasto, Wrocław, Poland

140x Magnification

Microorganisms

Vir Gahrotra

Hello! I'm an avid hobby microscopist who is constantly exploring the microscopic world, combining art, biology, and physics through the microscope.

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Over my vacations, I had the opportunity to explore central Europe - starting from Wroclaw, Poland, and continuing on through Slovenia to Austria and finally Germany.
For me, the enthusiastic hobby microscopist, there was no better trip I could have gone on - especially since I live in a large metropolis where unpolluted freshwater is hard to come by. (forget freshwater ciliates!)

So, I was delighted when the hotel was situated right near a little stream - I've uploaded the stream as the cover photo.

Using the Foldscope Explorer Kit, I was able to gather some water and organic material in the kit's microcentrifuge tube. What I saw was amazing, and I wanted to share my findings with the Foldscope community. I have uploaded several videos of the same below.

2 zooplankton in darkfield illumination, achieved using the LED module

Another video of plankton in strong oblique illumination.

A slightly longer video showing my findings - I found 2 Stentors, most likely of the species Stentor Coeruleus (the wiggly blobs that the camera zooms in on), spirogyra filamentous algae, and a multitude of smaller ciliates.
Thanks for reading/watching! I hope you enjoyed this post.

Using the Foldscope in Poland

Vir Gahrotra

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