SEPTEMBER 16, 2022
Foldscopes and Frugal Science: Paper Microscopes Make Science Globally Accessible
Excerpt: Picture a microscope. You are likely imagining a heavy metal base, a viewfinder tube to squint through, and knobs on the side to bring a tiny specimen into focus. An essential tool for science for over 400 years, microscopes have identified disease-causing bacteria, revealed the building blocks of living organisms, and introduced children to the joys of science. But in certain areas of the world, barriers to transport, training, and maintenance can make even standard microscopes inaccessible.
Manu Prakash and Jim Cybulski’s response to the problem is the Foldscope, a paper microscope that can achieve powerful magnification and costs less than $1 in parts. It has been a little over a decade since the Foldscope’s inception, but 1.8 million have already been distributed in over 160 countries, dramatically increasing accessibility to science. Foldscopes have been used for everything from identifying agricultural pests to STEM education in refugee camps. But how was a several-thousand-dollar scientific instrument reimagined in paper form? Prakash and Cybulski found the answer through curiosity and play…