back to article Lego bricks, upcycled iPhone lenses used in new low-cost, high-res microscope

A trio of boffins at the Georg August University Göttingen and Münster University have put together a low-cost yet high-resolution microscope for educational users – using smartphone parts and Lego bricks. "An understanding of science is crucial for decision-making and brings many benefits in everyday life, such as problem- …

  1. aregross

    FTFY

    "even politicians"? You mean *despite* politicians.

  2. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

    we remove all the fancy electronics, but we only need the lens

    Bah in my day century we just needed a blowtorch and a glass rod .

    Actually it's difficult to melt the glass rod and get a nice round blob of glass - there's a very nice introduction

    1. Throatwarbler Mangrove Silver badge
      Joke

      Re: we remove all the fancy electronics, but we only need the lens

      Bah! Back in my day, we knew the limitations of God's plan for us and just prayed for enlightenment! These fancy optical thingamajigs take us into realms man was never meant to observe!

      1. jmch Silver badge
        Trollface

        Re: we remove all the fancy electronics, but we only need the lens

        Eppur si muove!

      2. EricB123 Bronze badge

        Re: we remove all the fancy electronics, but we only need the lens

        I'm not a religious man at all but I totally agree with your comment anyway.

    2. TheProf
      Joke

      Bah again

      In my day we'd have used a 3D printer for this sort of thing.

  3. anothercynic Silver badge

    Brilliant!

    Reminds me of the Lego beamline at the Diamond Light Source. A brilliant toy put together by some folks that demonstrates how the Diamond Light Source and its different beamlines work. To see people repurpose stuff like this makes me glad. :-)

    1. Cuddles

      Re: Brilliant!

      It's more than just toys. Some of the beamlines at Diamond have used Lego to build sample holders for actual experiments. Lego is so ridiculously overengineered for a toy that you can actually build many things more accurately than they could be manufactured by CNC.

  4. Potemkine! Silver badge

    Brilliant

    That may give some ideas to Lego: produce this as a kit

    1. The commentard formerly known as Mister_C
      Trollface

      Re: Brilliant

      And Apple to sue for using the lenses

      1. Christoph

        Re: Brilliant

        Yes Please! The Streisand effect will get these things everywhere!

  5. GDM
    Boffin

    Brilliant

    While these aren't going to replace the Stemi Wi-fi equipped microscopes + iPads in our training room, the relatively low cost could mean much greater take up for our remote surgical training - we already send out about £25-worth of materials to attendees, who then have to juggle laptop and phone to be able to connect both into a Zoom-based training session. Adding an optional £85 kit of parts for those who need it could be feasible, especially for some of our less well-equipped international students who are effectively largely excluded at the moment.

  6. tiggity Silver badge

    bog standard used microscopes

    Are readily & cheaply available so another possibility (used to be a popular kids toy back in the day)

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