CellScope, the cellphone microscope, gets UV upgrade to spot tiny glowing things

It was over a year ago that UC Berkeley introduced the world to CellScope, the 60x microscope for cellphones made from cheap, off the shelf components (like a re-purposed belt clip). Now, even though we're disappointingly still not seeing this thing in stores, there's an upgraded version able to take pictures of even smaller nasties. Using a filter the scope can now spot microscopic critters tagged with dye that glows under fluorescent light -- things like Mycobacterium tuberculosis (that's the cause of TB if you, like us, lack a med degree). A software app is able to then count the number of cells within a given sample and tell you whether to worry about that annoying cough. There's still no word on whether this product will ever actually start scoping out such things in the wild, but we certainly hope it will -- if only so that we can keep our vast collection of cellphone accessories complete. Video after the break.

[Via Crave]

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 22nd 2009 11:17AM]

S60 strikes again! Old and clunky, but powerful.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 22nd 2009 11:47AM]

This would be where iPhone, Android, WebOS, and others attack you for your comment.

However, I will completely concur with your statement. S60 is how a mobile OS should be; like a full on computer. It works the way intelligent people think.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 22nd 2009 11:59AM]

Took me forever to figure out why there was that picture on the phone.

I'm sitting here saying "why do they have a picture from ultraviolet on the phone. That movie was terrible". Then it clicked. If I wasn't getting off at noon today it would be a long day.