Gachapon toy vending machines usually spit out junky toys that you play with for an hour and then forget about. At least that’s how I remember them. But these toys would actually be worth spending money on. Japanese company Nature Technicolor has been making all sorts of vending machines toys that inspire kids to learn including species of frogs, shapes of snowflakes and varieties of mushrooms. But their latest are these histological slides that capture cross sections of microscopic life.
There are 8 different varieties that range from plant tissue and pollen to human tissue, bacteria and viruses. They were developed in collaboration with Kyoto Kagaku, a maker of educational models and equipment, and went on sale in July. It brings me back to the old days in biology class.