For Yuksel Temiz, photographing extremely tiny subjects is just part of his job as a microelectronics engineer at IBM’s Zurich Research Laboratory. Temiz works on minuscule devices that use microfluidics: a type of tiny, liquid-based circuitry that, instead of using metal wires, directs the flow of liquid through hair-thin channels like a microscopic canal system. Specifically, Temiz and his team develop the underlying technology for miniature diagnostic tools that can take in and analyze samples, like a medical patient’s blood or saliva. But to actually develop and test those tools, engineers need to rely on extremely powerful microscopes, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars apiece.
Eventually, Temiz got fed up with the limitations of those boutique devices and built his own — and it only cost him $300 because he made it almost entirely out of Lego bricks. And it works: he’s used his Lego microscope to take images that he’s later published the images in prestigious scientific journals including Science Advances, Scientific Reports, and Biomedical Microdevices. Now he’s sharing the instruction manual, which he designed to look like that of any other Lego set, with the world.
For more…https://futurism.com/engineer-published-scientific-papers-lego-microscope