What if every kid on this planet
carried a microscope around in
their pocket, just like you might a
pencil? How would that change the
world for the better? This is the
question bioengineer Manu
Prakash and his team of researchers
at Stanford University are
investigating.
The problem
Hold up a second, what is a
bioengineer? Ed.
I thought you might ask.
Bioengineering means applying the
rules of engineering to biological
systems. A biological system could be
a human body, a field of wheat, a
rainforest or an individual plant. Manu
describes himself as someone who likes
to think like a biologist, and then solve
problems like an engineer. He loves
tackling puzzles, basically, a lot like the
average AQUILAnaut. Some of Manu’s
other work has involved developing a
simple computing system that is made
using water droplets. Yes, you read that
right, water droplets!
Manu grew up in India, a country
with a high proportion of people
living below the poverty line, so
he’s interested in making things
work using the fewest
resources possible.
Traditional microscopes are
expensive, heavy and difficult to
lug around. As a result, in places
where there isn’t much money to
invest in laboratories, microscopes
are often either non-existent, too
bulky for proper fieldwork, or
broken. Without them, scientists
young and old struggle to get the
clear results needed to progress
their research.
The solution
Manu’s answer was the Foldscope; a
$1 origami microscope which is
made mostly of paper and can travel
to any part of the planet.
The Foldscope was invented by
Manu and Jim Cybulski, while Jim
was a PhD student working at
Manu’s laboratory at Stanford
University, in California USA. On field
visits across the world they had both
experienced the lack of good-
quality scientific equipment and
seen how it hampered scientific
investigation.