Glowing hemolymph in an insect
Dec 24, 2017 • 6:46 PM UTC
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Manu Prakash
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
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I made a really puzzling observation today. I found a very small flying insect (~1mm) at a friends house. I could not identify if it was a really small fly, wasp or something else. Intrigued; I ended up putting it inside a foldscope.
As luck would have it; I squashed the big and a whole lot of hemolymph came swarming out. Now, I squash many bugs under a foldscope – nothing unusual – usually I see lots of lipid (fat droplets). But this time; something was special. All the droplets were glowing – yes, you read it right. Glowing. I was so thrilled – I almost forgot to take any pictures. I only took these three images.
As luck would have it; I squashed the big and a whole lot of hemolymph came swarming out. Now, I squash many bugs under a foldscope – nothing unusual – usually I see lots of lipid (fat droplets). But this time; something was special. All the droplets were glowing – yes, you read it right. Glowing. I was so thrilled – I almost forgot to take any pictures. I only took these three images.
I have imaged so many insects, never seen hemolymph like this. I will try to sample the same insect again; but would love to hear thoughts others might have.
@Laks: in the past we discussed bilirubin before. Any connections to the same.
Cheers
Manu
38.016907 -121.813771
@Laks: in the past we discussed bilirubin before. Any connections to the same.
Cheers
Manu
38.016907 -121.813771
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