‘She was experimenting with tiny liquid-filled channels in hopes of devising chip-based diagnostic tests, a discipline called microfluidics. The trouble was, the specialized equipment that she previously used to make microfluidic chips cost more than $100,000.’

‘Racking her brain for a quick-and-dirty way to make microfluidic devices, Khine remembered her favorite childhood toy: Shrinky Dinks, large sheets of thin plastic that can be colored with paint or ink and then shrunk in a hot oven. “I thought if I could print out the [designs] at a certain resolution and then make them shrink, I could make channels the right size for micro­fluidics,” she says.’

‘At the same time, she faced considerable skepticism. How on earth, critics wondered, could you use a toy to make a sophisticated device that’s normally forged from high-grade silicon? “People either love it or they laugh at me,” Khine says.’

(Via BoingBoing.)