Another great place to get water for Foldscope observation is from ‘empty’ buckets !! Most buckets will retain few drops of water when you empty them. This causes microorganism growth over time. Saw what looks like a rotifer in bucket water sample !!

A wise man (you know who 😉 ) once said,

“Give me 6 hours to prepare a slide and I will spend 4 hours trying to getting thinnest possible cross sections !!”

Cross section of pumpkin tendril seen using a foldscope

Cross section of pumpkin flower sepal seen using Foldscope

Pollen from a pumpkin flower seen using Foldscope . We have a vine growing at hour home. Current it is around 4 feet long and has many male flower buds. We hope to see some female flowers soon !!

Managed to get a thin peel from leaf lettuce I have been growing at home . First image is with iodine staining, next two are mythelene blue.

There is large-scale leaf miner infestation in my garden.
Is it safe to eat parts of lettuce which weren’t infected ??

Foldscope

Saw some floating bits of algae/vegetation using Foldscope in pond sample collected at IIT Guwahati . Can anyone tell what are these things ? Are these small organisms or parts of larger aquatic plants !!

Another image of cyclopodia seen through Foldscope in IIT Guwahati campus. These looked like small dots moving rapidly in water. Was up till 3 AM trying to trap these in my anti-squish slide and take pictures . Finally managed to trap one by surrounding with bits of tissue paper

Looks like a clyopodia. This was seen in pond water sample at IIT Guwahati . A very fast moving creature. The image on left was taken using Foldscope and my anti-squish slide. The right side image was taken using a ordinary slide and coverslip.

My method for making anti-squish slides for Foldscope.The idea is to stick a plastic thread between coverslip and slide using transparent nail polish and create a cavity where insects can safely move.Added bits of paper in attempt to scatter light.
Full details here https://ashishware.com/2020/02/16/FoldscopeSlide/

Here are some pics taken using the new slide preparation technique and Foldscope.
Here is link to article detailing the method : https://ashishware.com/2020/02/16/FoldscopeSlide/