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# How Researchers Can Turn a Smartphone into a Microscope

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by 

[Bijan Stephen](https://time.com/author/bijan-stephen/)


## Bijan Stephen


May 2, 2014 8:54 PM UTC

by 

[Bijan Stephen](https://time.com/author/bijan-stephen/)


## Bijan Stephen


May 2, 2014 8:54 PM UTC

In science, serendipity is a [familiar narrative](http://gizmodo.com/5936349/9-scientific-breakthroughs-that-happened-by-accident): Devoted scientist searches doggedly for the solution to a problem, and, in the process, discovers something entirely different and entirely more useful.

This time, a team of Australian researchers [accidentally invented](http://www.opticsinfobase.org/boe/abstract.cfm?uri=boe-5-5-1626) a new kind of optical lens while attempting to synthesize polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), a silicone polymer that’s used as a head lice treatment, an anti-foaming agent, a fluid-delivery device in microfluidics, and as an ingredient in some fast food (e.g., [McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken%5FMcNuggets#Ingredients)). (Also, [Silly Putty](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silly%5FPutty).) The study’s lead researcher, [Dr. Steve Lee](https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/lee-wm-w) of the Australian National University, noticed that spilled drops of PDMS hardened overnight into lens-like shapes. Lee mentioned as much to a doctor friend, who informed him of medicine’s need for cheap, high-quality lenses, [according to](http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2014/apr/30/new-lens-could-turn-your-phone-into-a-microscope) an article in PhysicsWorld.com, published by the Institute of Physics.

From there, Lee and his team developed a simple, novel method to shape PDMS into usable lenses, which they describe in [_Biomedical Optics Express_](http://www.opticsinfobase.org/boe/abstract.cfm?uri=boe-5-5-1626). The resulting lenses are millimeters thick and magnify up to x160; to showcase their practicality, the researchers created a clip-on attachment that converts smartphones into dermatoscopes, devices employed in dermatology to diagnose skin cancers. The team built the attachment for around $2—dermatoscopes generally go for hundreds.

Worldwide, approximately [one in five people own a smartphone](http://www.businessinsider.com/smartphone-and-tablet-penetration-2013-10); therefore, innovations that use them as a platform—like Dr. Lee’s lenses—can have a commensurately immense global impact, potentially saving lives in the process.

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