A team of Harvard University chemists have developed a simple technology that takes an expensive medical device know as a microfluidic chip and puts it within reach of the third world.  Using paper and double-sided tape as opposed to rubbers or plastics that require multimillion dollar fabrication equipment, these chips can eventually be made widely available for mere pennies on the dollar.    
[They] operate much like a home pregnancy test, in which liquid creeps up a cellulose strip toward a color-changing line. But unlike the pregnancy test, these new chips can split a single stream of liquid into dozens [...]

If you’ve ever been for an eye exam then you’re familiar with the process of looking through various combinations of lenses as the optometrist attempts to determine your ideal prescription.  Now imagine taking the power and versatility of this rather unwieldy machine and putting all its capabilities in a pair of glasses. That’s exactly what retired Oxford University physics professor Joshua Silver has done by creating the world’s first pair of tunable eyeglasses, a process that has taken him the better part of two decades to develop. Daily Tech explains the technology behind the innovative design:
 His lenses use liquid lenses which [...]