A microscope that fits into a handbag and just costs just 50 cents? Yes, that’s what interested me the most when I first saw Manu  Prakash’s TED talk.  I wondered whether it would be as good as a microscope . But, then I got a chance to attend a workshop on foldscope which was conducted by Mr. Laxmi Narayan.


 We started by assembling the foldscope, a few simple steps and there it was ready to be used.


 Then it was  time to observe the slides.


 Here is a slide of Euglena  as captured through my phone

<figure aria-describedby="caption-attachment-17987" class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_17987" style="width: 300px">
 <img alt="?????????????" class="size-medium wp-image-17987 gcloudimg" data-attachment-id="17987" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta='{"aperture":"2.6","credit":"","camera":"GT-I9195","caption":"?????????????","created_timestamp":"1470565533","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.7","iso":"64","shutter_speed":"0.03030303030303","title":"","orientation":"6"}' data-image-title="20160807_102533" data-recalc-dims="1" height="169" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_17963/20160807_102533.jpg" width="300"/>
 <figcaption class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-17987">
 
 EUGLENA
 
 </figcaption>
</figure>

 Here is a slide of Mucor as captured through my phone

<figure aria-describedby="caption-attachment-17988" class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_17988" style="width: 300px">
 <img alt="MUCOR" class="size-medium wp-image-17988 gcloudimg" data-attachment-id="17988" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta='{"aperture":"2.6","credit":"","camera":"GT-I9195","caption":"?????????????","created_timestamp":"1470565775","copyright":"","focal_length":"3.7","iso":"125","shutter_speed":"0.03030303030303","title":"","orientation":"1"}' data-image-title="20160807_102936" data-recalc-dims="1" height="169" src="https://storage.googleapis.com/microcosmosdelta.appspot.com/images/transfer_17963/20160807_102936.jpg" width="300"/>
 <figcaption class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-17988">
 
 MUCOR
 
 </figcaption>
</figure>

 It is as good as any other microscope. Me and my team at Pratham Science Program are really excited to take this to the children we work with.

My first encounter with Foldscope (Ruia College Workshop, Mumbai)

smiya

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