Far From a Lab? Turn a Cellphone Into a Microscope

NY Times ^ | November 7, 2009 | ANNE EISENBERG

[wastedyears]

Good idea

[ColdSteelTalon]

They have invented a medical Tricorder like on Star Trek.. :)

[Liberty1970]

Best wishes with this. Of course, with Obamacare destroying the incentive for free market exploitation of good ideas, it may never see the light of day.

[omega4179]

If Waxman did not invent this then we probably do not need it. Socialism will provide to each according to his needs!

[pgyanke]

... there’s an app for that.

[AlbertWang]

I’ve fooled around with the optics required to see really small things, my experience is that you need at least a couple hundred dollars worth of glass to make this happen. The lens on a cell phone isn’t high enough quality to discern the details required for this type of work.

[LurkingSince'98]

It is obvious that you just ‘fooled around’ with optics.

It is also obvious you didn’t read the article since they are getting 3D holograms from which they reconstruct high res 3D images.

It helps to read PRIOR to commenting.

Lurking’

[united1000]

LOL... My first thought.....

[neverdem]

I wasn’t aware that holograms were made from interference patterns. With the right software imaging programs, this might be able to recognize telltale morphology of various microbes in different samples of blood, saliva, etc.

[FreedomOfExpression]

So how simple of a device is used on Ozcan's RAZR?
/lame joke

[null and void]

There have been several articles in the literature lately about applying a sample directly to the imagers focal plane, it makes a serviceable microscope without any lenses.

When you look up at a clear blue sky and see the 'floaters' in your field of view, you are seeing the shadows of individual blood cells and other cellular debris inside your eye.

No lenses between them and your retina...

[ColdSteelTalon]

Kirk: Is he allright Bones?

Bones: He’s dead Jim..

:)

[Retired Chemist]

Interesting article. I’ve done a lot of work with polarizing microscopes and SEMs.

[TXnMA]

Same here -- plus differential interference (Nomarski & Francon-Yamamoto) and IR and dark field optics.

The cellcam bit sounds like my first homemade microscope (@ age 10) -- the lens from a penlight bulb...

[70times7]

Damnit, Jim, I'm just a random dialer!

[skinkinthegrass]

They have invented a medical Tricorder like on Star Trek.

Hmmm....
too late....The Israeli, has been using an electronic hand-held
medical device (in combat) during the Lebanese conflict.
according to Israeli Media reports.

[seastay]

its the digital camera that does the trick. The wireless and audio features of what makes a cell phone a cell phone don't have much to do with this, or am I missing something?

[_Jim]

I need Karnac’s power to really deduce what ‘magic’ it was they pulled off here ... suffice to to say, the use of a 2-D focal plane solid-state imaging array (as used in a cell phone or cheap camera) is the heart of this device; said researcher, however, didn’t just order several focal plane array imagers from a vendor or chip supplier, but rather adapted already constructed devices to a different purpose, saving him the trouble of designing/developing the hardware/firmware drivers (incl software) to make the imagers usable (extracting the 2-D array of ‘light’ data appearing on the top of the sensor/imager chip) ...

[ColdSteelTalon]

Those Israelis... They have everything. :) God bless em.