Frugal science and the Foldscope microscope are among the topics we discuss with Manu Prakash, in part 1 of our multiweek conversation with the Unilever Colworth Prize recipient and MacArthur Fellow, who joins us from Stanford University. Prakash recounts the road to putting high-level microscopes in the hands of more than 1 million users around the world, as well as his earliest scientific memories. We also explore science’s role in our current global pandemic situation and how a problem-solving mentality extends beyond the laboratory. Season 2, Episode 2, concludes with a look at how a most unusual material spins a stronger optical lens.