Here’s one: Thomas Larson of Seattle, WA has developed a tiny lens that attaches to your smartphone or tablet’s camera and offers a 150x magnification microscope.


Larson is raising funds for the project on Kickstarter, and to date he’s blown past the $50,000 he was looking for, and it’s not hard to see why. The Micro Phone Lens is inexpensive--it looks like $42 will get you the lens plus the full assortment of goodies and accessories--but offers students, parents of curious children, and even scientists working out in the field a surprisingly powerful tool.


With the lens stuck on your device and an (included) light source illuminating the area, you just press a slide onto the lens, and it will automatically focus as you apply slight pressure. It works with any device camera of 5MP or higher.


Flush with plenty of Kickstarter funds, the Micro Phone Lens 150x will enjoy increased optical quality, and Larson will be manufacturing the lenses in-house soon.