Inspired by a child's toy, Stanford University professor Manu Prakash's Paperfuge, India-born American scientist developed low-cost technique to detect malaria. At 125,000 revolutions per minute, paperfuge can separate plasma from whole blood in 1.5 minutes to diagnose malaria. It costs less than 10 rupees and can work without electricity, unlike its more costlier counterparts.

“This was an interactive effort between math and physics and experiments - which led to the final parameters that allow us to spin this simple tool all the way to 120,000 rpm,” Prakash told .

Professor Prakash had previously developed the Foldscope, an origami- inspired microscope which could be used to look at micro organisms.