Friday, August 1st, 2008

Micro Microscope

Artist's schematic of chip-based microscope Changhuei Yang, Caltech

Researchers have developed a micro-microscope. Writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists at Caltech describe the creation of an on-chip, lens-free microscope that they say could be built for about ten dollars. The device uses a screen of tiny holes mounted above a CCD sensor to image liquids flowing through microscopic channels in the chip. Such a microscope chip could provide high-resolution microscopic images in field instruments for tasks such as blood screening and water testing. We'll talk with one of the inventors of the device about its potential uses.