An engineer at Stanford University has created a DIY microscope, called the Foldscope, that is fashioned out of a single piece of printed-and-folded A4 paper, origami-style. This paper-based microscope is incredibly cheap to produce (less than a dollar), and yet still offers a very high magnification level (2,100x) that can be used to diagnose various strains of malaria and other diseases. Given that diagnosis currently requires a cumbersome optical microscope that costs hundreds or thousands of dollars, the Foldscope will revolutionize medicine — primarily in poorer countries, but also here in the west.

A conventional optical microscope

A conventional optical microscope. (1) Eyepiece, (3) Objective lenses on a turret, (6) The stage for holding samples, and (7) The light source. The other numbered parts are for making adjustments.

The optical (light) microscope has remained virtually unchanged in form and function for the past 200 years. The shape of the microscope is so recognizable and its design so immutable that it has become the cliche totem of scientific endeavor. (How many scientific cartoons have you seen that didn’t contain a microscope?) There’s an eyepiece, an objective lens (usually a few of them on a revolving turret), a stage to hold the specimen, and a light source underneath that shines up at the stage. The whole thing is usually very bulky, heavy, has a lot of moving parts, and is thus quite expensive.

Stanford University’s Manu Prakash, with the epiphany that a microscope is ultimately a very simple device, realized that he could strip away all of the complexity and heft and still have a useful microscope. Enter the Foldscope. [Research paper: arXiv:1403.1211 – “Foldscope: Origami-based paper microscope”]

Foldscope costThe Foldscope is fashioned out of paper (well, cardstock for durability), a simple spherical lens, and an LED and watch battery. The paper parts fit on a single piece of A4 paper, which you can print yourself. A single Foldscope can be assembled in seven minutes, weighs less than 10 grams, and the total cost of the parts comes in at around $1. Drop it or stamp on it, and the Foldscope will keep on working. By using a higher-power LED, the Foldscope can be used as a projector. A variety of lenses are available, depending on the Foldscope’s use and required magnification, but they generally take the form of a small (1-2mm) sapphire or borosilicate ball lenses. The strong magnification of a single spherical lens held close to the eye dates back to Leeuwenhoek’s groundbreaking work in microbiology in the 17th century. (Read: Origami lithium-ion battery increases energy density by 14 times.)

Foldscope origami schematic

The Foldscope origami schematic — just add a little lens and a light source

By flexing and moving the Foldscope’s tabs to focus on the specimen, magnification levels of up to 2,100x are possible, with the ability to resolve details that are smaller than one micron (micrometer). As you can see in the images below, captured through the Foldscope, it is easily capable of resolving most single-celled organisms (which are generally on the scale of 1 to 100 microns). This makes the Foldscope ideal for spotting the parasites and bacteria that cause diseases such as malaria, schistosomiasis, and other afflictions that haunt poorer countries that can’t afford a well-equipped medical lab.

Foldscope sample microscopy images

Foldscope sample microscopy images

The Foldscope is also an exciting innovation here at home, though. I don’t know about you, but I would’ve loved to have a 2,100x magnification microscope when I was a kid. Imagine if kids at school were given the equipment to make a Foldscope, and then encouraged to examine everything in microscopic detail. They could see, first-hand, the bacteria in unpasteurized milk or the molecules of chlorophyll in a blade of grass.  The Foldscope could kickstart a new generation of kids that are interested in science and biology — and that can only be a very good thing.

You can’t yet buy the Foldscope commercially, but the research paper (linked above) provides a detailed parts list and instructions on how to build one yourself.