Pocket-Size Device Turns Smartphone into a High-Powered Microscope

Ever wonder what weird microorganisms are crawling around on your kitchen counter? Or, perhaps you'd like a close-up view of those dust bunnies in the corner of your room.
Well, there's a new pocket-size tool that could help you take a much closer look at these and other household specimens.
A sleek, smartphone-powered microscope, dubbed μPeek, recently reached its funding goal on Kickstarter. The device, which attaches to the back of any smartphone (over the top of the camera lens), is about the size of a credit card and is controlled via an app, allowing you to view crystal-clear images of tiny objects and make adjustments to the microscope right on your phone.
But the powerful microscope isn't "just another magnifying lens for your smartphone," Patrick Galliker, co-founder and CEO of Scrona, the company behind μPeek, said in a Kickstarter video promoting the new device. The microscope is equipped with a motorized lens and sophisticated optical components — two things usually found on expensive (and relatively big) professional microscopes.