A Foldscope is a low-cost, paper microscope that can be assembled from a flat sheet of paper and a lens. It's designed to be affordable, durable, and portable.
How it works:
The Foldscope combines origami principles with optical design.
It has a glass lens and a sliding focus ramp.
The Foldscope can magnify images up to 340 times.
What it can be used for:
Medical education: Can be used to teach about disease-specific diagnostics
General education: Can be used to teach about the role of unseen lifeforms in infectious diseases
Forensic science: Can be used as a preliminary investigation tool
Agriculture: Can be used to detect microorganisms that affect crops and animals
ASSAM RIFLES ORGANISES SCIENTIFIC WORKSHOP AND DISTRIBUTION OF FOLDOSCOPE AT HAFLONG, ASSAM*
A two-day scientific workshop on the principles and working of Foldscope was organized by Assam Rifles in coordination with a delegation from International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi under Dr Arockiaswamy at Haflong, Assam in November 2024.
The workshop aimed at igniting and fostering scientific curiosity among school students and educators, witnessed enthusiastic participation from schools across Dima Hasao and nearby areas, sources said.
The programme focused on introducing the scientific Foldscope – a cost-effective, portable microscope – and its potential to revolutionize the teaching of science in resource-limited settings.
Students engaged in hands-on training to use the Foldscope for observing microscopic samples, sparking curiosity and a deeper understanding of biological sciences. A total of 198 students and 24 teachers from 10 different schools located in Haflong, Jatinga, Mahur, and Gunjung actively participated at the said event.
The initiative was made possible through the collaborative efforts of ICGEB and Assam Rifles, underscoring their shared commitment to promote education and scientific innovation in the region.
Upon conducting fieldwork in a developing country, Dr. Manu Prakash, an assistant professor at Stanford University, and his student, Dr. Jim Cybulski, discovered that the microscopes were few, fragile, and improperly handled. Using folded sheets, Dr. Prakash and colleagues devised a simple, low-cost microscope that they called the “Foldscope” in order to get around these limitations.
A component of the “Frugal Science” movement, Foldscope is a highly expensive paper microscope that draws its inspiration from origami. The movement’s goal is to provide reasonable and simple instruments for scientific usage in impoverished nations.
With a 1.9 μm resolution and a magnification of up to 140x, this compact, sturdy, and adaptable microscope is mostly composed of paper, making it waterproof.
It lacks the size and cost of a traditional research microscope.
Foldscope is not like the standard scientific lab microscopes in that it is not only portable but also has the capacity to project images onto any surface, enabling a larger number of individuals to examine an image at once.
No comments:
Post a Comment