How To Make a 1000x Microscope With Your Phone and a Glass Bead

In the backwash of our annual ritual for receiving the new and shiniest iPhones , get ’s not forget that even our slimly outdated phones are passably nifty devices . With a crummy glass bead , a 3-D - printed magazine , and the tv camera of an old headphone , scientists havemade a powerful microscopewith up to 1000x magnification . And better yet , they’veshared the instructions — all two footstep of it .

Not only is the microscope easy to make , but it ’s cheap . Not count toll of the telephone set and a 3D printing machine , the materials for each microscope come out to less than a dollar . This modest , portable , and disposable lens could be perfect for letting kid peer at the karyon of cells or have technicians examine samples out in the field .

Over at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory , the squad that developed the design has posted the3D printer filesfor the clip that hold the glass bead in place . dissimilar size of glass beads can be swapped out to for 100x , 350x , and 1000x blowup .

Using glass beads for magnification is n’t a all new idea , of course . If you do n’t have a 3D printer , you’re able to try hack together a phone microscope together withsome tape and arctic . But the three-D printed design is more flowing and even includes a slideholder . And if for whatever reason you need a few dozen of these , well , go 3D print to your fondness ’s content . [ PNNL ]

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