Researchers have developed a tiny lens made out of polymer that can be attached to smart phones, turning them into microscopes.
Just like many things in science, this happened by accident.
Dr Steve Lee and his team were adding droplets of the polymer used in contact lenses onto microscope cover slips to try to develop a new type of lens. Lee was about to throw one away when one of his colleagues realised they had created a tiny lens that could be used for portable microscopes.
“We put a droplet of polymer onto a microscope cover slip and then invert it. Then we let gravity do the work, to pull it into the perfect curvature,” Dr Lee said in a press release. “By successively adding small amounts of fluid to the droplet, we discovered that we can reach a magnifying power of up to 160 times with an imaging resolution of four micrometers.”
The tiny lens, which costs less than a cent to make, can be used on smart phones to create a high-resolution microscope.
The technology has a lot of potential and it could help doctors in developing countries as well as in remote areas. Farmers could also benefit from the technology as they can take images of insects or fungus affecting their crops and send them to specialists who can identify them and provide a solutions.
According to the press release the researchers have been approached by a German company who is interested in using the lenses for tele-dermatology.
Discover how the technology works in this video.
Dr Steve Lee and his team were adding droplets of the polymer used in contact lenses onto microscope cover slips to try to develop a new type of lens. Lee was about to throw one away when one of his colleagues realised they had created a tiny lens that could be used for portable microscopes.
“We put a droplet of polymer onto a microscope cover slip and then invert it. Then we let gravity do the work, to pull it into the perfect curvature,” Dr Lee said in a press release. “By successively adding small amounts of fluid to the droplet, we discovered that we can reach a magnifying power of up to 160 times with an imaging resolution of four micrometers.”
The tiny lens, which costs less than a cent to make, can be used on smart phones to create a high-resolution microscope.
The technology has a lot of potential and it could help doctors in developing countries as well as in remote areas. Farmers could also benefit from the technology as they can take images of insects or fungus affecting their crops and send them to specialists who can identify them and provide a solutions.
According to the press release the researchers have been approached by a German company who is interested in using the lenses for tele-dermatology.
Discover how the technology works in this video.
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