Cell Phone Microsocope Can Diagnose Your Parasites

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CellScopeBy Evan Ackerman

If you thought this or this was cool, you’ll definitely be impressed by this 60x cell phone microscope attachment. But it’s not a novelty cell phone accessory… It was designed by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley to provide a cheap, reliable way for doctors to diagnose patients in remote areas over the phone. The CellScope comes in two powers: 5x, for diagnosing skin conditions, and 60x, which is enough magnification to diagnose malaria in a blood sample, or perform white blood cell counts for leukemia patients. The first prototype was built entirely of off-the-shelf components for about 75 bucks, and now includes integrated LEDs to illuminate the sample. Researchers hope that health workers with minimal specialized training will be able to send pictures directly to experts at medical centers as easily as they might make a phone call… When they’re not using it to look at cool bugs and stuff, of course.

[ MIT Technology Review ] VIA [ KurzweilAI ]

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