Foldscope Activity

Manu Prakash Rebecca Konte

Manu Prakash

Manu Prakash is an Associate Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at Stanford University working in the field of physical biology and frugal science. He runs a curiosity driven lab at Stanford combining his passion for basic science while also developing ultra-affordable and accessible technologies that are used around the world for science education, research, and public health with the goal of democratizing access to scientific tools. Manu grew up in India and got his PhD from MIT, was a Junior Fellow at Harvard Society of Fellows and a 2016 MacArthur Fellow.

Rebecca Konte

Rebecca is a scientific artist who currently works at Stanford University in the Prakash Lab as the Artist in Residence. She creates original illustrations and graphics for digital and print media for the Prakash Lab in an effort to broadly communicate their research in an engaging and accessible manner. Rebecca also volunteers her time to support Foldscope Instruments, Inc., a social mission-driven company dedicated to democratizing science through low-cost tools. Rebecca holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Cleveland Institute of Art’s Biomedical Art program.

Version date September, 2019

Summary of Activity Goals

Can we magnify curiosity? Our experience shapes the many ways we assimilate science. What you read provides you the framework and the context, but it is what you observe and do that cements knowledge and builds intuition for the subject matter. For the last 7 years, we have been developing Foldscope (www.foldscope.com) an ultra-low cost field portable origami microscope that any kid can carry around in his/her pocket – to explore the wonders of microscopic world. From the mountains of Himalayas to the flatlands of Kansas, more than 600,000 Foldscope users in 140 countries around the world are exploring and sharing the microcosmos through a Foldscope (http://microcosmos.foldscope.com). Join us in this exploration and walk through the microscopic vistas – perform classical experiments shared below or just explore your own backyard. Teach what you find to your friends or family, anywhere you are. What will you discover?

Exercise 1: Are atoms real? Brownian Motion

Summary

Although now its unfathomable to imagine a world without the concept of a molecule or an atom, it was not always this way. A vigorous debate occurred in the late 1800’s whether if “atom” is a convenient mathematical concept or a literal construction block—how would we actually know? In 1905, Einstein proposed a brilliant calculation giving a possible scheme to count atoms. Now you can redo the experiment that won Jean Perrin, a French scientist who answered Einstein’s call, a Nobel prize for this work that finally put to rest any doubt that our world is indeed made of atoms. Redo the experiment that literally changed our view of this world!

Content

The following worksheet will step you through learning about Brownian Motion with a foldscope:

Exercise 2: A collective railway system of a cell - Cytoplasmic Streaming

Summary

Life is synonymous to movement. At the heart of almost all movement in biology lies molecular motors—little walkers that carry a load, sort things, transport the right stuff at the right place at the right time, and of course enable every other movement. If you peer carefully inside any cell, you are bound to see a little “river” of movement, a coherent flow inside a single cell that we call cytoplasmic streaming. It is as if somehow millions of these motors inside a cell have decided to move coherently in unison to form something similar to a micro-river. Go through fruits and vegetables in your fridge to see how many of them have distinct intracellular movements. And why not start with the onion?

Content

The following worksheet will step you through learning about Brownian Motion with a foldscope:

Exercise 3: Pollen morphology

Summary

Walking in a public garden – the sea of green is punctuated sporadically with brilliant flowers in all shape, sizes, and forms. Now, every flower contains a tiny amount of gametes as a little powder called pollen; effectively, male sperm cells of the plant world play a key role in plant fertilization. But it seems like every flower has a story to tell. From miniature basketballs to shrunken raisin, pollen collected from flowers comes in many shapes and forms. If we are to believe, form follows function—what are these puzzling little shapes doing?

Content

The following worksheet will step you through learning about Brownian Motion with a foldscope:

Subscribe to our newsletter