The 50 Cent Microscope

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Here is an image of Prakash with his patented design [pic 1]

This microscope design is so precise, that there is even room to focus your slide to get a crystal clear image of the specimen being viewed. Given the fact that each foldscope is made out of one sheet of paper, Prakash and his team have created 30 configurations for viewing different kinds of specimens – eg, there is a specific configuration for viewing the malaria bacteria, and a specific configuration for viewing the cholera virus.

I completely agree with Prakash that this invention allows us to think about a new paradigm in microscopy – the ‘use-and-throw’ microscopy. The sheet of paper, each part that comes from it and the different versions of the microscope work so well because essentially, in the end all the parts line up because of origami; and this is because the origami allows for micron-scale precision of optical alignment. So even though the idea may come across as being extremely rudimentary in nature, the aspects that actually make up the final microscope are actually an engineer feat, and something that is fairly sophisticated.

What’s even more astonishing is that this tabbed paper, along with the micro-optics embedded it is that it costs just 50 cents to manufacture!!!! This is an incomparable cost saving to the traditional, bulky microscopes. This microscope is currently being used in over 10,000 sites across the world and the number is still growing. It is

Personally, I’ve been so impressed by this invention that I reached out to Manu Prakash via email, congratulating him for his path-breaking invention that will now make sickness testing so much easier for people who have limited access to healthcare. It is inventions like these that truly bring a smile on my face as millions of people who would have otherwise had to wait for months or years for a basin blood-test report, will now have much faster, accurate and cheaper results available to them.

If you’d like to view the talk yourself, here’s the link:

http://www.ted.com/talks/manu_prakash_a_50_cent_microscope_that_folds_like_origami

I’d love to hear your views and opinions on this, feel free to comment!