My hair - as seen through the lens of a handheld, wireless microscope
That’s my hair. Up close and personal. As viewed through the lens of a handheld, wireless digital microscope. That image of my hair was sent wirelessly from the microscope (as I held it to my head), across the room, to my waiting iPhone, and uploaded to my computer to be placed in this blog post.
Sweet.
So, here’s how it works… I downloaded the free Airmicro app from iTunes onto my iPhone and configured the wireless settings. You could also upload the images to your laptop or desktop computer, of course. The microscope, called aProScope, is small and light (very portable). It has a built-in light source and you can purchase interchangeable lenses (10x, 30x, 50x, 100x, 400x). The device can be used in “touch view” mode (touch the specimen you want to examine) or “distance view”, giving you a half inch distance between the microscope cone and the specimen. In distance view, you can mount the microscope on a stand, giving you a great way to project dissections up on a computer screen (and record them) or as a document reader.
The company’s website has a number of interesting looking activities, labs and lesson plans but if you really want to hear the full scoop on teaching with this tool, you should be in touch with Sheri Wischusen (Louisiana State University) who has been putting it through its paces.
Here are a few other images I grabbed with the Proscope – any guesses on what they are?
