World's thinnest camera sees a single cell

The endoscope radically changed medicine; doctors were able to use a tiny camera at the end of a thread-thin wire to look into a patient’s body without major surgery. Engineers at Stanford University have taken the endoscope a step further: they’ve built the thinnest one ever and it see individual cells.

The new endoscope was developed by a team under the direction of Joseph Kahn, professor of electrical engineering at the Stanford School of Engineering. The results were published recently in the journal Optics Express and showcased in the Optical Society of America's "Spotlight on Optics."

Their prototype can resolve objects about 2.5 microns in size, and a resolution of 0.3 microns is easily within reach. A micron is one thousandth of a millimeter. By comparison, today's high-resolution endoscopes can resolve objects only to about 10 microns. The naked eye can see objects down to about 125 microns.

Source and whole article

reply to post by elevenaugust


Outstanding, I love stuff like this.
Unfortunately I have no skills to add to the tecnical side , it just impresses me so much what humans are capable of and where it will take us,

I always find the micro so beautiful.

reply to post by elevenaugust

Thanks. The cell pictured looks like a tough little animal. I've long been amused by the term "a simple one-cell..." Simple! These things contain entire cities of little machines, operators, very evolved animals (within animals) and are one of the most interesting things in nature.

Can anyone point me and others to any great "parts of the cell" threads here, or youtube vids? I have some, but am not conversant on the best-of-the-best. Thanks.

It's amazing how human beings come up with something very useful such as this one. Technology has made our lives a lot easier and medical breakthroughs will make it easier for doctors to resolve our health concerns.

What's that green stuff? Looks scary.
Also the picture looks too perfect - is that a CGI illustration or real thing?

Originally posted by Aleister
reply to post by elevenaugust

 

Thanks. The cell pictured looks like a tough little animal. I've long been amused by the term "a simple one-cell..." Simple! These things contain entire cities of little machines, operators, very evolved animals (within animals) and are one of the most interesting things in nature.

Can anyone point me and others to any great "parts of the cell" threads here, or youtube vids? I have some, but am not conversant on the best-of-the-best. Thanks.

Thought about this from your first paragraph, might find it interesting if you haven't seen it.

It looks hungry, reaching out for nourishment with "tendrils".

Poor little guy, its out of its element.

Wonder what kind of cell it is?

reply to post by Turq1

Thanks, I'll save and watch the show. All of my "simple one-celled organisms" should enjoy it.

Originally posted by PandaLima
What's that green stuff? Looks scary.
Also the picture looks too perfect - is that a CGI illustration or real thing?

It seems like it is most likely a CGI render of a cell, mainly because I think it would be almost impossible to hold a camera steady enough to get that high quality of an image of a cell, but then again I could be wrong.

Originally posted by kiwisoop

Originally posted by PandaLima
What's that green stuff? Looks scary.
Also the picture looks too perfect - is that a CGI illustration or real thing?

It seems like it is most likely a CGI render of a cell, mainly because I think it would be almost impossible to hold a camera steady enough to get that high quality of an image of a cell, but then again I could be wrong.

i would believe that it is controlled by a computer. like other surgical equipment.
there is no doctor in the world with hands steady enough to even get to the area needed, let alone hold it still enough to capture a clear image.

Originally posted by kiwisoop

Originally posted by PandaLima
What's that green stuff? Looks scary.
Also the picture looks too perfect - is that a CGI illustration or real thing?

It seems like it is most likely a CGI render of a cell, mainly because I think it would be almost impossible to hold a camera steady enough to get that high quality of an image of a cell, but then again I could be wrong.

Speaking of which..

OP, what's the source of the image? Doesn't seem to be in your link from what I skimmed though.

The green cells in the photo look like a virus. It's all cool until you see a little antenna come up out of a pore somewhere and plug into another cell, spreading it's codes around. Viral, get it? It could be knobulus cellus boogerus, or the flu. No the splat part of it says slime mold. I don't know, just a guess.

EDIT: actually now it looks like a malignant cancer cell. Gross.

Actually, picture doesn't look tied to article.

This human hair-width technology is wonderful and terrible at the same time. Wonderful that the microsurgeries can be done with less invasive tools. Nervous system emulation technology with optics. Terrible: imagine a spy camera as thin as a human hair. Careful, that man's toupee is watching you. Camera could be woven into clothing. In some weird security feature it could be woven into money, have a little printed circuit onto it, or have it embedded in a credit card. Credit card thin smart phones. Really good possibilities.

Originally posted by Sandalphon
Terrible: imagine a spy camera as thin as a human hair. Careful, that man's toupee is watching you. Camera could be woven into clothing. In some weird security feature it could be woven into money, have a little printed circuit onto it, or have it embedded in a credit card. Credit card thin smart phones. Really good possibilities.

edit on 25-3-2013 by Sandalphon because: (no reason given)

These things are already in use, and have been for years (my guess anyway). Cameras mounted on flies is my favorite. The cell phone as thin as a credit card could be good, and how about voice-activated and operated cell-phone buttons, so they could be sewn or placed onto a shirt, coat, or blouse and used by just talking (of course the main phone would be kept in a home, car, or safe, and the "button phones" would all be connected to that one. That way you can have all your buttons act as proxies for the main phone, and you wouldn't have to worry about changing the button over to what you wear day-to-day.)

In real life a relative bought me these camera glasses, you put them on and they're cameras and recorders without anyone knowing it. I said no, please send it back. I have no interest in filming or taping anyone without them knowing it (unless Liv Tyler from 15 years ago time-travels to the present).

That image has NOTHING to do with what they are doing. Why did you show it?