This is an exceptional example of how current technologies can democratize discovery. tl;dr - they did manage to make pocket microscopes with a minimum 140x magnification for $1, and gave away...
In 2011, while waiting for his new lab to be built at Stanford University, bioengineer Manu Prakash traveled to labs around the world, including in his home country of India. When he came across limited or broken microscopes in several labs, Prakash was disappointed. “Almost two-thirds of all biological and life science insights and research work utilize microscopes, while very few people have access to microscopy as an infrastructure,” said Prakash. With a new purpose for his bioengineering knowledge, he set out to build an affordable multipurpose microscope.
“Science has a crisis associated with access and affordability,” said Prakash. A basic light microscope that costs at least $100 could be a big amount for small labs in developing countries or impractical for use outside of the lab. Inspired by pencils and ballpoint pens, the most accessible and utilized tools he could think of, Prakash set the price point for his microscope to be produced at a mere $1. The challenge that remained was to actually build it.
This is an exceptional example of how current technologies can democratize discovery. tl;dr - they did manage to make pocket microscopes with a minimum 140x magnification for $1, and gave away 70,000 of them. Real science in microbiology ensued, from ordinary people looking in places that aren't usually examined by the tiny relative number of trained researchers.
This is an exceptional example of how current technologies can democratize discovery. tl;dr - they did manage to make pocket microscopes with a minimum 140x magnification for $1, and gave away 70,000 of them. Real science in microbiology ensued, from ordinary people looking in places that aren't usually examined by the tiny relative number of trained researchers.