Based on innovations from the last year, everything in the future will detect cancer. E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G. The latest to promise this ability is a microscope developed by the ever-innovative Fraunhofer Institute, capable of imaging a suspcious area of skin for melanomas.
Like other high-res camera concepts, this particular design uses an array of tiny optical sensors that use their small scans to stitch together a bigger, clearer image.
Each slice is roughly 300 x 300 µm² in size and fits seamlessly alongside the neighbouring slice; a computer program then assembles these to generate the overall picture. The difference between this technology and a scanner microscope: all of the image slices are recorded simultaneously.
The imaging system consists of three glass plates with the tiny lenses applied to them, both on top and beneath. These three glass plates are then stacked on top of one another. Each channel also contains two achromatic lenses, so the light passes through a total of eight lenses.
Fraunhofer says the technology will take another couple of years to reach the market, but once it does, it will be cheap, because the lenses can be mass produced. [Fraunhofer via Cnet]