LGP 2026 | Batch 3 | Exploring the Microcosm | Day 3 | Tomato Skin, Tomato Flesh & Pollen | Ashoka University
Jun 05, 2026 • 3:11 PM UTC
India
140x Magnification
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Aadit
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Day 3 felt like the course shifting into a higher gear. The first two days had been about getting comfortable, learning the foldscope, figuring out slide prep, and understanding what we were actually looking at. Today, we moved into new territory: pollen, a completely different category of sample, and two parts of a tomato that turned out to look nothing like each other.
Tomato Skin
The first thing that you notice with the tomato skin is the colour. After two days of brown, cream and translucent colours, the warm orange-red shade feels so different.
At 50x , the cells were tiny and densely packed, clustering together in large groups that gave the skin an almost hive-like texture. Some clusters more pigmented than the rest, which immediately made the sample feel more interesting than something like the onion peel, which was almost uniform all the way through.
Tomato Skin
The first thing that you notice with the tomato skin is the colour. After two days of brown, cream and translucent colours, the warm orange-red shade feels so different.
At 50x , the cells were tiny and densely packed, clustering together in large groups that gave the skin an almost hive-like texture. Some clusters more pigmented than the rest, which immediately made the sample feel more interesting than something like the onion peel, which was almost uniform all the way through.
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At 140x , the irregular shapes of the individual cells became obvious. Some of the larger cells had faint internal detail visible, hints of structure inside that you could just about make out if you held focus long enough. The structure still looked hive-like.
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At 340x , the cells looked almost grain-like, small, densely packed, with thin cell walls and barely any gap between them. The colour variation across the field wasn't as significant, with certain cells slightly more pigmented than others sitting right next to them, rather than clusters as for the previous magnifications.
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Tomato Flesh
While the skin was dense, pigmented and tightly packed, the flesh was the opposite, large, almost transparent cells that felt way more open and spacious.
At 50x , the cells were already noticeably bigger and more elliptical than the skin, sitting loosely rather than packed together. Even at this low magnification, you could make out faint internal structures in certain cells, possibly the vacuoles.
While the skin was dense, pigmented and tightly packed, the flesh was the opposite, large, almost transparent cells that felt way more open and spacious.
At 50x , the cells were already noticeably bigger and more elliptical than the skin, sitting loosely rather than packed together. Even at this low magnification, you could make out faint internal structures in certain cells, possibly the vacuoles.
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At 140x , individual cells still weren't clearly visible. Some
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clusters were visible, and faint orange-red pigmented lines appeared in parts of the view. That was one of those moments where looking through the foldscope yourself gives you something a photo genuinely can't capture; the camera couldn't capture the view as well as the human eye would.
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At 340x , the cell walls (though very thin) were distinguishable, and the pigments became more defined. There was also much more clarity, which is surprising for an extremely magnified image.
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Sunflower Pollen
This was the highlight of the day. Sunflower pollen looks almost like what you'd imagine. At lower magnification, the grains appeared as small, clustered spheres, bright against the background. Zooming in, each grain was covered in fine spiky projections.
This was the highlight of the day. Sunflower pollen looks almost like what you'd imagine. At lower magnification, the grains appeared as small, clustered spheres, bright against the background. Zooming in, each grain was covered in fine spiky projections.
Dark Field Microscopy
We also covered a new concept called dark field microscopy. Normal foldscope use is bright field, direct light through the sample, with a bright background. Fine details can get washed out. Dark field blocks the central light and only lets scattered/oblique light through, so the background goes dark and the sample glows against it. It causes surface details that were barely visible in bright field to become sharp and clear. Same sample, but different effect due to the lighting
Overall
Day 3 was the day the course stopped feeling like an introduction and started feeling like an actual exploration. Pollen is a whole different world from plant tissue; it's a completely different object in itself, and the surface detail is remarkable. The tomato gave familiar territory (onion and potato) with a new texture and colour. And dark field highlighted that it's not always the sample that can make an impact on the results.
We also covered a new concept called dark field microscopy. Normal foldscope use is bright field, direct light through the sample, with a bright background. Fine details can get washed out. Dark field blocks the central light and only lets scattered/oblique light through, so the background goes dark and the sample glows against it. It causes surface details that were barely visible in bright field to become sharp and clear. Same sample, but different effect due to the lighting
Overall
Day 3 was the day the course stopped feeling like an introduction and started feeling like an actual exploration. Pollen is a whole different world from plant tissue; it's a completely different object in itself, and the surface detail is remarkable. The tomato gave familiar territory (onion and potato) with a new texture and colour. And dark field highlighted that it's not always the sample that can make an impact on the results.
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