Chinese Scientists Develop World Lightest Wireless Mesoscope

Xinhua News Agency reported that Chinese scientists have developed the world lightest wireless mesoscopic microscope, weighing 1 gram. The instrument records neural activity across the cerebral cortex of mice at single-cell resolution within a 6-millimeter field of view. It simultaneously records more than 8500 neurons in a single mouse, which is 25 times that of existing comparable equipment. The study appeared online in Nature on October 19. To achieve this device, Dai Qionghai of Tsinghua University collaborated with Dai Pu of the PLA General Hospital. Through integrated design and systematic optimization, their teams developed the ultralight wireless mesoscopic microscope named Airscope. By using 4 aspherical lenses, the instrument achieves single-cell resolution of 4 to 6 micrometers across its 6-millimeter field of view. Tsinghua University Department of Automation associate professor Wu Jiamin stated that conventional head-mounted miniature microscopes generally exceed 3 grams and hinder animal movement. In contrast, Airscope removes cable tethering, features a lighter build, and uses an onboard sensor to compress data on-device, enabling the wireless transmission of megapixel-scale images. Dai Qionghai stated that this microscope provides a new tool for understanding the neural basis of intelligence and will drive optical brain-computer interfaces toward more precise detection. He noted that future applications could expand into areas such as immunology and oncology to achieve full tracking of disease processes.

Using this wearable device, the team conducted experiments previously blocked by weight or cables, including recording cortical activity from multiple mice exploring a 5-square-meter natural habitat simultaneously and tracking extended autonomous exploration in a maze featuring 32 terminals.