Scientists at Duke University have developed an incredibly powerful new camera that combines dozens of lenses to capture images and video in three dimensions with thousands of megapixels of resolution.
The device is called a multi-camera array microscope (MCAM) and consists of 54 different lenses that view the subject from slightly different angles. The resulting images are stitched together to create one giant image with gigapixel-scale resolution. That’s about 50 to 100 times more detail than the average smartphone camera can, or 10 times his for high-end models. It also provides his 3D view of the subject as many different perspectives overlap, allowing him to reveal new information never seen before.
MCAM not only captured still images, but the device was able to capture 3D video in an area of 135 cm2 (21 inch2), at a rate of 230 frames per second. Of course, this leads to big data processing hurdles. Total images exceed 5 gigapixels per second. That means the camera will generate terabytes of data in minutes. Therefore, the team developed machine-learning-assisted algorithms to process numbers efficiently.
Several teams of researchers put the system into operation and watched groups of different ant-like organisms move freely around the lab enclosure. One group looked closely at Drosophila grooming activity down to the cellular level. Another investigator observed the development of zebrafish from larvae to adulthood, and another observed how these fish responded to neuroactive drugs.
“When my colleagues studying zebrafish used it for the first time, they were blown away,” said Roarke Horstmeyer, lead author of the study. “New behavior on pitch and depth that had never been seen before was immediately apparent.”
The team says the technique could be useful for observing large numbers of subjects, such as cell cultures, and can detect changes long before other instruments detect them. includes “fingerprint” art or collectibles to monitor counterfeiting.
A study was published in a journal nature photonicsYou can see the MCAM in action in the video below.
Gigapixel 3D microscope captures life in unprecedented detail
Source: Duke University
