Month: March 2014

An paper microscope open thread

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by liberal japonicus

A little early, but what the heck, the doctor is going into double time. A paper microscope, you say? 

Manu Prakash, a professor at Stanford University and his students have developed a microscope out of a flat sheet of paper, a watch battery, LED, and optical units that when folded together, much like origami, creates a functional instrument with the resolution of 800 nanometers – basically magnifying an object up to 2,000 times.

Called Foldscope, the microscope is extremely inexpensive to manufacture, costing between fifty-cents and a dollar per instrument. And because the microscope is assembled primarily from paper and optical components the size of a grain of sand, it is virtually indestructible.

Foldscope also differs from the microscopes typically found in science labs because it’s not only portable, but it also has the ability to project an image on any surface, allowing a larger group of people the ability to look at an image simultaneously.

The Yahoo video wasn't available here, but below the fold is another video of Manu Prakash, a professor at Stanford University who, along with his students developed this slick puppy. TCFW 

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China and the future

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by liberal japonicus I'm back from an interesting trip to Siem Reap and Yangon. Thought not a huge force in Siem Reap, Yangon was overflowing with Chinese: workers, businessmen, tourists. In fact, as we were leaving Aung San Suu Kyi's house, a busload of Chinese tourists pulled up.  At least for me, it's hard not … Read more

Your sickbed reading list open thread

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by Doctor Science It’s been a mucous-laden day at Lake Wobegon, so I’ve spent most of my few waking hours reading an old favorite, Dorothy Sayers’ The Nine Tailors. When I was a teenager, every time I was sick in bed for a few days — three or four times a year, I guess — … Read more

Who made torture respectable?

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by Doctor Science I’m on the second day of a medium-bad head cold, so I’m going to do something I don’t generally approve of: posting with very few links. Let me know if there’s a point you REALLY need a source for, and I’ll see if I can dig something up. Ever since news about … Read more

prison

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<i>by russell</i> the issue of prisons in the US came up in another thread.  it was discussed briefly, and I thought it might deserve a more thorough discussion. so, here it is. what strikes me about the prison system in the US: the sheer number of people in the system.  somewhere between 2.2 and 2.4 … Read more

Same-Sex Marriage and the Threat of the Golden Rule

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by Doctor Science Legal and social barriers to same-sex marriage equality in the US are crumbling with startling speed, faster than anyone predicted 20 years ago, or even 5. Catholics Andrew Sullivan and Ross Douthat, and Eastern Orthodox (former Baptist, former Catholic) Rod Dreher have been having a conversation about how the losing side should … Read more

Your Pi Day open thread

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It’s Pi Day! We’re going to make a sour-cherry pie, from the cherries we picked last Cherry Season Day. Around here cherry season lasts, literally, about 3 hours, on the morning of the Saturday after the summer solstice. We show up at the orchard and pick 6-10 pounds of sour cherries. Then we pit them … Read more

Milk-first versus tea-first

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by Doctor Science One of the traditional British class markers is whether you put milk in your cup before you add tea, or vice versa. For the past 150 years at least, tea-first has been upper-class, milk-first middle class (or lower). I have a theory about this, which is mine. Victoria Moore says: In the … Read more

Your downhill pothole slalom open thread

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by Doctor Science LJ is just passing through, on the way to Myanmar, so I’ll just stick this up. In a normal year, the NJ Dept. of Transportation says it fills 160,000 potholes. In the past five months alone, it’s filled 100,000 — and there’ve got to be another 100,000 out there. Quite a few … Read more