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Table top scanning electron microscope (hitachi-hta.com)

3 points by jgamman ↗ HN
wow! i learned on an old-school Phillips 505 (piccy http://www.clf.bas.bg/sem505.htm) and boy, that thing sucked - but this? 60k down, no LN2, 40k mag, EDAX, stereo... sweeeeeet ;-) given the US dollar - it's practically free! ;-)

3 comments

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iamwil
I can see how having something industrial packaged for home or desktop use can change things. It happened with computing, desktop publishing, photography, and it's on it way with 3D printing. They're all things that allowed people to create things with a lower cost.

However, I'm currently having a hard time seeing how a desktop microscope will change things, because it's an observation tool, rather than a creation tool. Anyone else got a different perspective?

It'd be fun and interesting to explore, that's for sure. It certainly wouldn't be a creation tool, but maybe educational and inspirational to see the world of the very small, just as it's inspirational to see the world of the very big with microsoft's telescope.

giardini
Consider Google maps: e.g., now amateur anthropologists and geographers have located previously unknown archeological sites.

I would expect a great deal of new observational discovery should a desktop microscope become economically viable. And once a phenomenon is observed, minds turns to ways to harness that phenomenon.

It's difficult to harness a supernova since it's so far out there, but anything viewable with a microscope is available _here_ and probably in abundance.