TED: "A 50-cent microscope made of paper"

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rjlittlefield
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TED: "A 50-cent microscope made of paper"

Post by rjlittlefield »

I'm passing along this very interesting link that I received this morning. Those of us who are used to big elaborate setups might enjoy seeing another approach.

http://www.ted.com/talks/manu_prakash_a ... ke_origami
In this cool demo from TED Fellow Manu Prakash, meet a microscope made of paper that's easy to fold and use (and costs about 50 cents to make). These cheap, cutting-edge microscopes could help rural health clinics diagnose diseases faster -- and for students, it turns the world into a hands-on science experiment.
The scope is actually an elaborate miracle of miniaturization. It's definitely not made entirely of paper. Actually there's an embedded LED and assorted lenses and filters. But all that is mounted in a paper framework and designed to be mass produced at very low cost.

From 7:35 in the presentation:"We had to figure out a way to manufacture lenses in paper itself at really high throughputs. So it uses a process of self-assembly and surface tension to build achromatic lenses ..."

Slick stuff!

This was filmed in June 2012, but apparently it was just now posted on the TED site.

--Rik

abpho
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Location: Earth

Post by abpho »

Wow. So cool.
I'm in Canada! Isn't that weird?

Craig Gerard
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Post by Craig Gerard »

Brilliant!


Craig
To use a classic quote from 'Antz' - "I almost know exactly what I'm doing!"

Planapo
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Post by Planapo »

:shock: The intention for designing it is charming. That there is the technology to produce it - above all, at such cost - is beyond my imagination.

--Betty
Atticus Finch: "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view
- until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."
Lee, N. H. 1960. To Kill a Mockingbird. J. B. Lippincott, New York.

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