The world’s first fully 3D-printed microscope can be made in a few hours and for a fraction of the cost of traditional ones.

“It’s not just enabling, it’s empowering,” says Gail McConnell at the University of Strathclyde in the UK. She and her colleagues previously worked out how to 3D-print lenses like those used in microscopes, which led to the breakthrough.

For the body of the…