When I was younger, my uncle used to always say this thing about, “Oh, if you scratch yourself, you’ll find thousands of little skin cells underneath your fingernails.” This line would always lead into a long rant about how evolution isn’t real or something like. I never paid attention, not only because his argument didn’t make sense, but also because I was, like, seven years old and could hardly tell my lefts from my rights. Anyways…

Sample collected from nail from right hand’s pointer finger on 5/31/19 at ~4:30pm. The nail was cut, then the contents underneath were scraped out using a pocket knife. Sample was observed on a slide under a cover slip through a foldscope.

Clumps of dead skin cells can be seen. I estimate the number in this picture to be in the thousands, like my uncle said.

#caltechbi1