Manu Prakash has invented a 60 pence microscope – and sent 50,000 of them to children, teachers, pharmacists, farmers and health workers around the world. Now, the Indian-born Stanford professor wants to liberate the rest of the lab. "The scientific viewpoint needs to be propagated beyond the field of science itself," he explains. "But the tools are not widely available."
To tackle this, Prakash, 34, simplifies complex apparatus to their most basic principles, then produces it for a fraction of the cost. With the Foldscope, he used origami techniques to create a cardboard microscope that can be manufactured and shipped flat. PrakashLab then produces them, optics and all, for less than $1 (60p) a pop. "Our design target was that a six-year-old should be able to assemble and use it," he says.
But the Foldscope is no toy. With 2,000x magnification, the pocket-sized tool is invaluable for health workers. A field test in Ghana found it effective for diagnosing the parasitic disease schistosomiasis; Prakash is developing versions to diagnose malaria and sleeping sickness.
Prakash is now planning distribution for his next invention: a frugal take on the chemistry microfluidics lab – a device for manipulating tiny quantities of liquid. His version uses punch-card programming tape, pulled through by the hand-crank mechanism of a music-box, and costs just $5 to make. He envisions a community sharing punch-card designs in the same way that Foldscope users have begun creating a crowdsourced microscopy manual. "There was a post yesterday discussing using it to detect counterfeit drugs," he says. "Every day I find new examples. This is what gets me up in the morning."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
