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Paper Microscope Magnifies Objects 2100 Times and Costs Less Than $1

Posted by Soulskill on from the i-can-see-my-house-from-here dept.

ananyo writes: "If ever a technology were ripe for disruption, it is the microscope. Microscopes are expensive and need to be serviced and maintained. Unfortunately, one important use of them is in poor-world laboratories and clinics, for identifying pathogens, and such places often have small budgets and lack suitably trained technicians. Now Manu Prakash, a bioengineer at Stanford University, has designed a microscope made almost entirely of paper, which is so cheap that the question of servicing it goes out of the window. Individual Foldscopes are printed on A4 sheets of paper (ideally polymer-coated for durability). A pattern of perforations on the sheet marks out the 'scope's components, which are colour-coded in a way intended to assist the user in the task of assembly. The Foldscope's non-paper components, a poppy-seed-sized spherical lens made of borosilicate or corundum, a light-emitting diode (LED), a watch battery, a switch and some copper tape to complete the electrical circuit, are pressed into or bonded onto the paper. (The lenses are actually bits of abrasive grit intended to roll around in tumblers that smooth-off metal parts.) A high-resolution version of this costs less than a dollar, and offers a magnification of up to 2,100 times and a resolving power of less than a micron. A lower-spec version (up to 400x magnification) costs less than 60 cents."

8 of 89 comments (clear)

  1. dupe by roman_mir · · Score: 5, Informative

    this is of-course a dupe, but hey, what else is new.

    Ted talk on this device.

    --
    You can't handle the truth.
  2. Overpriced at $0.60 by Animats · · Score: 1, Informative

    For only $0.50, you can get this nicer toy microscope on Alibaba. People have been making microscopes from drops of water or glass beads since Leeuwenhoek invented the microscope. With tiny optics, the view is dim, but it works.

    1. Re:Overpriced at $0.60 by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 4, Informative

      For only $0.50, you can get this nicer toy microscope [alibaba.com] on Alibaba.

      No, you can't. For $10,000 you can get 20,000 of them, but you can't get one at $0.50.

      What's the magnification? I think it might be a bit shy of 2,100x.

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  3. Link to the paper by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    The website is a bit thin on detail. Here's their paper from the FAQ

    http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1403/1403.1211.pdf

  4. Microscope made out of paper... by bradgoodman · · Score: 3, Informative

    ....and a poppy-seed-sized spherical lens made of borosilicate or corundum... ...and a light-emitting diode (LED), ...and a watch battery, ...and a switch ...and some copper tape)

  5. Re:2012 news by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 2, Informative

    and a resolving power of less than a micron.

    Around 1/100th of the width of a human hair.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  6. Re:Why lie about it being made of paper? by tomhath · · Score: 2, Informative

    The Economist is a Conservative publication??? You have an interesting perspective on the world.

  7. Re:Or you can just use your cell phone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://www.washington.edu/news/2014/04/15/uw-graduates-lens-turns-any-smartphone-into-a-portable-microscope/

    It's not just an "app". It requires an external lens that you stick on the phone's camera.