It’s difficult to determine the world’s most expensive microscope — one powerful electron microscope cost $27 million to get up and running back in 2009 — but it may be easier to call out the cheapest. The Foldscope is made of paper and costs $1.75 to produce. Don’t let the low price point fool you, though; the 2022 Golden Goose award winner is an impressive feat of engineering and is making science more accessible the world over.
It was affordability that inspired Stanford engineering professor and Foldscope co-creator Manu Prakash over a decade ago, according to an article published on the Golden Goose website. While studying infectious disease diagnostics in Thailand in 2011, Prakash began to consider how to improve testing for malaria, many cases of which go undetected, according to the World Health Organization. Early diagnosis is a key component in treatment and transmission of the disease, and one which requires analyzing samples under a microscope. There was a microscope where Prakash was working, but it wasn’t in use.
