We love new technological advancements that seem like first steps toward Star Trek tech. Here’s another one that we found recently that is headed in the direction of the Medical Tricorder.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF has recently announced a new imaging system that can take microscopic images quickly, by hand, and without blurring. These images can be used for medical diagnoses, such as skin cancer.

In the future, doctors will be able to take a closer look at suspicious blemishes using a new microscope – with results in just a few fractions of a second. It examines to a resolution of five micrometers; it’s also flat and lightweight, and it records images so quickly that the results are not blurred even if the doctor is holding the microscope in his or her hand.

They go on to say…

For results with comparable resolution values, a conventional microscope would either be restricted to a tiny field forced to scan the surface: conventional equipment slowly sweeps the surface, point by point, recording countless images before combining them to create a complete picture. The drawback: it takes quite a while before the image is complete. The new microscope designed by researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF in Jena, combines the best of both types of microscope: because it foregoes the grid, it needs to make just a single measurement, and that’s what makes it very fast. Still, it records across a broad imaging area. “Essentially, we can examine a field as large as we want,” remarks IOF group manager Dr. Frank Wippermann. “At five micrometers, the resolution is similar to that of a scanner.”

We’re not jumping to any conclusions…we’re just sayin’.

Pretty cool advancements! Doctors appointments are about to get a whole lot more interesting, and perhaps a lot less invasive.

Read the full article here. 

(Source fraunhofer.de via Engadget.com)