Скачать или смотреть BIG IDEAS @ScienceStowers featuring Manu Prakash, PhD

Science faces an accessibility challenge. Although information and knowledge are fast becoming available to everyone around the world, the experience of science is significantly limited. One approach to solving this challenge is to democratize access to scientific tools. We believe this can be achieved via “frugal science” – a philosophy that inspires design, development, and deployment of ultra-affordable yet powerful scientific tools. Using some examples from my own work (Foldscope, a one-dollar origami microscope, and Paperfuge, a twenty-cent high-speed centrifuge), I will briefly describe the process of identifying challenges, designing solutions, and deploying these tools to enable open-ended scientific curiosity and inquiries in communities around the world.

By connecting the dots between science education, biodiversity mapping, environmental monitoring, and global health, I will explore the role of “simple” tools in advancing access to science and better human health in a resource-limited world.

BIG IDEAS @ScienceStowers is a lecture series exploring how science informs and inspires our communities. Aiming to bring cutting-edge and provocative scientific ideas in an engaging and accessible way to the greater Kansas City community, the series is designed to inspire a thirst for scientific knowledge and illustrate the roles that scientific discoveries play in our lives and communities.