Video games can help diagnose depression, and smartphones identify blocked arteries.
Now, a research team in Singapore has developed a light-emitting diode (LED), less than a micrometre in size, which has been used to build a holographic mini-microscope.
Both LED and microscope are the smallest of their kind in the world. A neural network-algorithm converts objects measured by the microscope, such as cells or bacteria, into detailed images.
Paving the way for mobile phones to become high-resolution pocket microscopes. All it would take is a software update and integrating the LED into the smartphone’s electronics.
One potential application: diagnostic purposes in indoor farms.
Cell phones, by the way, can already help detect the Zika virus.
