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A lens that sticks to any device’s camera and makes it possible to see things magnified dozens of times on the screen can turn any smartphone or tablet computer into a hand-held microscope, scientists say.
The soft, pliable lens currently magnifies by 15 times, but researchers are creating an improved version that will magnify objects up to 150 times.
The lens sticks to a device’s camera without any adhesive or glue and has been built by Thomas Larson, a University of Washington mechanical engineering alumnus.
Larson has formed his own company based in Olympia, Washington. After the initial success of his first model of the Micro Phone Lens he is creating a new lens that will magnify up to 150 times.
Standard laboratory microscopes usually magnify between 50 and 400 times.
The lens is about the size of a button and comes in its own carrying case. Users stick it flat onto a smartphone camera lens, turn on an external light source such as a lamp, then run the device in camera mode.
Several other products exist that can adapt a smartphone to be used as a microscope, but they are significantly more expensive, and the attachments are heavy or require permanent adhesives.
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