Yesterday; with the help of Paul, we went out in Monetrey Bay and did a plankton tow to pull out all kinds of things from the ocean. This was a 100micron screen; so we got a lot and lot of stuff. I have an infinite amount of microscopy to do – but I wanted to share a quick idea – I figured out that I could manipulate a single diatom by just playing around with the foldscope focus.

Here is a cyclotella; watch it rotate in the field of view. It’s going to divide soon – and hence you see the two frustals that will desperate out.

By applying pressure on the slide; I was able to generate a very gentle flow that flips the diatom around – and i get to see the diatom in its full glory.

If you look carefully; you will actually see some very subtle features including an exclusion zone of the outside plates, radial fibers and more.

Now; I have maybe 20 or so different species of diatoms I imaged. Inspired by work from @Laks; I will also organize that in a database.

Cheers
Manu