2000x microscopes for $5

[vger]

Manu Prakash, a professor at Stanford University and his students have developed a microscope out of a flat sheet of paper, a watch battery, LED, and optical units that when folded together, much like origami, creates a functional instrument with the resolution of 800 nanometers – basically magnifying an object up to 2,000 times.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/this-could-be-big-abc-news/super-cheap-paper-microscope-could-save-millions-lives-133616732.html?vp=1

Sign me up, please.

Edit:

courtesy of Streetwind for anyone blocked by Yahoo. Edited March 25, 2014 by vger

[Woopert]

That seems pretty cool! That was a cool story.

[Streetwind]

For those like me who are just getting the "video not available in your region" middlefinger from Yahoo as usual,

on youtube.

[SuperFastJellyfish]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/this-could-be-big-abc-news/super-cheap-paper-microscope-could-save-millions-lives-133616732.html?vp=1

Sign me up, please.

Wow, thanks for posting this. That's freaking amazing.

[Kryten]

It should be noted that '2000X' is probably a theoretical value. I can't imagine being able to actually see anything above 500 without immersion lenses.

[Accelerando]

As long as it goes beyond 50x, sign me up!

[Moon Goddess]

My girlfriend asked me for a microscope for christmas 2 years ago, she wanted to look at pond water and blood.

I paid a lot more than $5, she's never opened it.

[Scotius]

Pretty cool I see a lot of uses for those cheap microscopes in schools, and between biology enthusiasts. Now, can we please have a folding telescope?

[Skyler4856]

May be useful in interplanetary missions, easily stored, relatively lightweight, high magnification, etc, although an electron microscope would probably worth the weight.

[Tommygun]

I just showed this to my sister. She's a retired biology teacher and does part time volunteer work in Liberia.

She says she is going to try and look into this.

[Andon]

From a non-medical, non-help-the-world, non-caring-about-humanity standpoint... this thing is STILL amazing! It's a dirt cheap, durable microscope that projects things and fits into your pocket. Add in the rest of it and... Yeah, it's amazing.