Hello Foldscope community,

Microcosmos continually amazes me. In fact, it amazes me in at least three ways:

1. the biology (and other science) that users discover and capture is beautiful and fascinating
2. the technological innovations and hacks that users invent are ingenious
3. the variety of global locations from which posts are made is inspiring and eye-opening

To celebrate these three facets of Microcosmos, I have compiled a list of some of my favorite posts within each of these categories. Whether you are new to the Foldscope community or have been here from the beginning, take a look and discover/reminisce over old posts. This is not a “best of” list, simply just a collection of things I have found helpful and inspiring. Add your own suggestions in the comments!

Incredible Biology

• A complete Drosophila (fruit fly) life cycle: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=10036
• The color of butterfly wing scales: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=8965
• Beautiful diatoms: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=16640 and https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=3414
• Individual bacteria under the Foldscope: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=18454
• Exploding amoebas: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=17130
• Polychaete worms: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=16408
• Beating Daphnia heart: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=12198
• Mealworms eating plastic: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=15161
• Diversity of life in a drop of water: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=16717
• Sperm fertilizing a sand dollar egg: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=16483 and sperm fertilizing a stickleback fish egg: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=7841
• A brine shrimp’s first swim: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=9618
• Stentor, the king of ciliates: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=14231
• Spider development: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=7792 and https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=11113
• Mosquito larvae breathing underwater: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=10074

Technique

• Focus-Locking and Using a Table Lamp for Darkfield and Pseudo-Phase-Contrast Illumination: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=16093
• Foldscope projection in camera lucida mode: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=17097 and https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=16684
• Building micro-aquariums: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=16915
• Tips for wet mounts: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=11304
• Culturing ciliates: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=12672
• Finding tardigrades: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=17901
• Another darkfield technique: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=7042
• How to build a plankton net: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=17431
• Using a flower petal to image itself (diffuser use): https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=9289
• DSLR camera hack: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=13564

Global Reach

• Project SHINE in Tanzania: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=8210
• Detailed Account of Workshop in the Yucatan: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=8219
• Foldscope with the Argentina Minister of Education: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=18547
• August 2016 India workshops by super-user Laks Iyer: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=18427
• Foldscope at universities in Peru: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=17649 and https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=17152
• First Foldscope club in the Philippines: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=17528
• Workshop in South Africa township: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=16830
• Looking for mosquito larvae to fight Zika in Honduras: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=15416
• Foldscopes at schools in Nicaragua: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=14738 and https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=14704
• Foldscope community in Afghanistan: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=14671
• Projection Foldscope to study sand in Brazil: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=14262
• Foldscopes with high-school and university students in Madagascar: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=13416
• Foldscopes in Kangemi slums in Nairobi: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=13156
• Foldscope distribution in Uganda: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=13086
• Flower petals in the Dominican Republic: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=11444
• Chilean Foldscope Project: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=10398
• Workshop in South Korea: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=8337
• Explorations in Indonesia: https://microcosmos.foldscope.com/?p=8259