Hi, I am Macmillan R Rodborne, from Meghalaya, India. I am in 10th grade at Me.E.CL Secondary School, Umiam

On my visit to Panshet Dam, I was told to collect any kind of sample that I could come across, and I found a small insect on the river-side.

I dissected the leg of that tiny insect and placed it under Foldscope Microscope. As I was preparing my sample I was very curious to see how the leg of the insect looks like under the Foldscope Microscope. The toughest part was to focus it. At the same time, I was also very excited to prepare the sample on my own.

I was able to observe that the leg of the tiny insect was like a hook-like structure which was similar to that of a ship’s anchor. It was brownish and black in colour with reddish brown texture. The hook-like structure helps the insect to keep itself afloat on water and prevent it from drowning by increasing the surface area between the insect and the surface area of the water.

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