Many Americans remember their early experiences with the microscopic world. Usually, it happened in a school science class where lab tables were equipped with heavy, counter-top microscopes you weren’t allowed to take home.
Curious kids with a fascination for nature may have begged their parents for a microscope they could use at home. It would come in a big box and might have required parental help to get it set up and figure out how to use the glass slides to examine pre-made specimens or, if more ambitious, collected from the backyard or local ponds and rivers.
Children in less fortunate countries and other underserved communities may not have had these opportunities. Scientific equipment like microscopes can be prohibitively expensive for impoverished educational systems. Likewise, until recently, scientists and healthcare workers couldn’t easily bring microscopes into the field for research, or to identify what was causing outbreaks of disease. This is one of the major reasons why affordable microscopes have real world impact.
Portable Microscopes Expand Access for Research
When researchers trek to remote areas, lightweight gear can make all the difference. Affordable microscopes are more portable than traditional microscopes, and many can offer levels of magnification suitable for scientific research.
When botanists discover what they think is a new plant species or biologists need to determine the presence of microscopic organisms out in the field, affordable microscopes can provide the assistance needed to make new scientific discoveries.
Affordable Microscopes Improve Education
Can you imagine a child running outside in excitement carrying a heavy metal school microscope? Affordable microscopes boost enthusiasm for science among elementary and middle school students because they can bring them along easily as they venture out to explore their local flora and fauna.
Insects, blades of grass, and drops of water become infinitely more interesting when viewed through a microscope’s lens. Many budding scientists, perhaps even future Nobel winners, start as kids playing outside with an affordable microscope.
Affordable Microscopes Work With Mobile Phones
One of the greatest benefits of affordable microscopes is that many of them coordinate with mobile phones. Either their lenses attach to phones, or they can upload images to the phone.
The combination of an affordable, portable microscope and a mobile phone makes scientific research and education more accessible to global populations, especially those in countries with scarce educational resources.
Affordable microscopes have real-world impact. They make scientific education accessible to under-served populations, and they enable researchers to explore previously unknown territories with the tools they need to examine specimens in the field. Tools like paper microscopes can have a tremendous impact on budding scientists.