Last week assistant professor of bioengineering Manu Prakash, PhD, received a call he couldn’t refuse — an invitation to attend the first-ever White House Maker Faire, to show attendees how to build a 50-cent microscope out of laser-cut paper, plastic tape and a tiny glass bead.
At today's event, Prakash will also demonstrate how he turned a toy music box into a $5 programmable microfluidic chemistry set that can be used for applications as diverse as testing water quality and science fair projects.
Maker Faires, started by Make magazine in 2006, are gatherings where do-it-yourself enthusiasts show off their homemade projects and teach others how to make things using new technologies such as 3D printers, laser cutters, and desktop machine tools.
President Obama is hosting the first-ever White House Maker Faire to celebrate our “Nation of Makers” and to help empower America’s students and entrepreneurs to invent the future.
Prakash, who grew up in the mega-cities of India without a refrigerator, is a leader in the frugal maker movement. At Stanford, he works with students from bioengineering, medicine, and Bio-X to reengineer expensive, complex health-related devices to make them better, faster and cheaper.
His team also focuses on developing affordable science tools to inspire global innovation. To that end, Prakash recently launched an educational initiative called the “10,000 Microscopes Project,” where build-your-own-microscope kits will be shipped to the first 10,000 people who pledge to share their microscope images and experiments in a free, online microscopy manual.
“I’m so happy that the White House is looking at ways to celebrate scientific curiosity and invention,” Prakash told me. “Many children around the world have never used a microscope, even in developed countries like the United States. A universal program providing a microscope for every child could foster deep interest in science at an early age.”
For more information on the White House Maker Faire and today’s National Day of Making, or to watch the event live, visit www.whitehouse.gov/makerfaire or follow #NationofMakers on Twitter.
Previously: The pied piper of cool science tools, Music box inspires a chemistry set for kids and scientists in developing countries, Free DIY microscope kits to citizen scientists with inspiring project ideas and Stanford bioengineer develops a 50-cent paper microscope
Photo, of Quinn Monahan trying out a paper microscope, by Amy Adams
Photo in featured entry box by Manu Prakash
