Wonders of plankton tows..

Applause IconDec 14, 2015 • 9:03 AM UTC
Location IconUnknown Location
Applause Icon140x Magnification
Applause IconMicroorganisms

I am a faculty at Stanford and run the Prakash Lab at Department of Bioengineering at Stanford University. Foldscope community is at the heart of our Frugal Science movement - and I can not tell you how proud I am of this community and grassroots movement. Find our work here: http://prakashlab.stanford.edu

261posts
1185comments
42locations
Just finished running a series of workshops for high school students participating in the ASCB2015 high school program. Had a fantastic time (although I was not ready for 150-200 students). Just wanted to thank all the volunteers who made this possible. Thank you so much..
I wish I had taken pictures – if some of you did; please attach a link in comments below. This is the only picture I have. Many of you are not in this picture – so please attach pictures if you participated.
Here are the volunteers and all the participants in action. We spent most time building microscopes – and everyone got a Foldscope to take home.
So now I have a surprise for you – Saad and I did a quick plankton tow in the morning just before the workshop at ASCB in San Diego. Saad was kind enough to record some of our goofing off at the water front – with a simple plankton tow net. I had some fun throwing out the net. We got some curious fisherman coming and talking to us; but overall nobody seemed to care.. they are just wondering what are we collecting.. Including this big fella.
https://vimeo.com/148736004
But, here comes the surprise. I just took a drop of ocean water – and to my surprise; I think I caught an acantharian (I think). Can someone help me identify the same.
In the same sample; I also saw radial structures with a chloroplast like architecture. I was intrigued if it’s passive or active (almost nothing in biology is passive); so using a lapse it app – I did setup a time lapse (15sec per picture;30 min total). Watch for yourself – you should see some kind of radial flux going around inside this giant cell?
I will write a detailed post with a time lapse – but I am rushing to get to the airport.. India workshops starting in 24 hours (www.foldscope.com/workshops) so maybe we will see some of you very soon.
cheers
manu

Sign in to commentNobody has commented yet... Share your thoughts with the author and start the discussion!

More Posts from Manu Prakash