Pronounced Folk :-)
Books by Albert Folch
How the World Flows - Microfluidics from raindrops to Covid tests
Oxford University Press, 2025
This book acts like a microscope that pulls the reader into the barely noticeable, Lilliputian world of fluids at small scales—the microfluidic world. It answers the question “What is microfluidics?” in nontechnical language. Microfluidics is the field of science that studies fluids constrained to spaces that are smaller than 1 millimeter wide and, by extension, the engineering field which builds devices that exploit the unique properties of fluids at these scales. Just like microelectronic circuits are too small to see and are hidden under the screens of smartphones or televisions, microfluidic phenomena are tiny and concealed everywhere under several layers as well. Examples of microfluidic marvels found in Nature are raindrops, the rise of sap in plants, and the flow through blood capillaries. Many ancient human inventions, ranging from soaps and sauces to the candle wick, the gauze, and the ink brush, rely on microfluidics. Natural microfluidic wonders have inspired engineers to build devices such as engines, spray cans, ballpoint pens, inkjet and 3D printers, pregnancy and COVID tests, glucometers, asthma nebulizers, kidney dialysis machines, and DNA analyzers. Paradoxically, the tiny size of microfluidic systems, natural and human-made, has prevented most people until now from appreciating the huge impact microfluidics has had on life and civilization. Because microfluidics has transformed society even more than microelectronics, it deserves to become a buzzword just as much as microelectronics.
Hidden in Plain Sight - The history, science, and engineering of microfluidic technology
MIT Press, 2022
Hidden from view, microfluidics underlies a variety of devices that are essential to our lives, from inkjet printers to glucometers for the monitoring of diabetes. Microfluidics—which refers to the technology of miniature fluidic devices and the study of fluids at submillimeter levels—is invisible to most of us because it is hidden beneath ingenious user interfaces. In this book, Albert Folch, a leading researcher in microfluidics, describes the development and use of key microfluidic devices. He explains not only the technology but also the efforts, teams, places, and circumstances that enabled these inventions.
Folch reports, for example, that the inkjet printer was one of the first microfluidic devices invented, and traces its roots back to nineteenth-century discoveries in the behavior of fluid jets. He also describes how rapid speed microfluidic DNA sequencers have enabled the sequencing of animal, plant, and microbial species genomes; organs on chips facilitate direct tests of drugs on human tissue, leapfrogging over the usual stage of animal testing; at-home pregnancy tests are based on clever microfluidic principles; microfluidics can be used to detect cancer cells in the early stages of metastasis; and the same technology that shoots droplets of ink on paper in inkjet printers enables 3D printers to dispense layers of polymers. Folch tells the stories behind these devices in an engaging style, accessible to nonspecialists. More than 100 color illustrations show readers amazing images of microfluids under the microscope.
Introduction to BioMEMS
CRC Press, 2012
Helping to educate the new generation of engineers and biologists, this textbook explains how certain problems in biology and medicine benefit from (and often require) the miniaturization of devices. The book covers the whole breadth of this dynamic field, including classical microfabrication, self-assembly, soft lithography, microfluidics, tissue engineering, cell-based and noncell-based devices, and implantable systems. It focuses on high-impact, creative work encompassing all the scales of life -- from biomolecules to cells, tissues, and organisms. This book -- in color throughout -- includes only the most essential formulas, many noncalculation-based exercises, and more than 400 color figures. Developed from Albert Folch's long-running course, this classroom-tested text gives readers a vivid picture of how the field has grown by presenting historical perspectives and a timeline of seminal discoveries.
For the love of the ball
Amazon (Kindle, $2.99) / CreateSpace (Paperback; Color, $21.79; B&W $8.99), 2013
This book tells the story of how FC Barcelona has managed to build one of the best soccer teams in the world using primarily the players from its youth academy (nicknamed “La Masia” – the farmhouse). During the 2013-2014 season, 17 of the 25 players of the first team were from La Masia, a historical record. These players, including Messi, Iniesta, and Xavi, have dazzled soccer fans around the world with their dance-like positioning and passing skills. La Masia now trains kids from all continents, including its first American, Ben Lederman. This book reveals that this accumulation of talent is not a coincidence but the result of a 30 year-long plan, set in motion by the brilliant mind of Dutch coach and ex-Barça player Johan Cruyff. The author explains here that the strategy followed by most rich clubs to be at the top (purchase the best players and sell their homegrown) is not self-sustainable because the investors’ money does not come from soccer. La Masia, on the other hand, has saved Barça millions of euros. Will the MLS learn this valuable lesson and promote its youth academies, or will it let American soccer fall in the hands of big businesses?
La ciència del futbol (The Science in Soccer)
Editorial Empúries, 2004
This book uses soccer as an excuse to communicate science. What would soccer be like played in another planet? Why is grass such a good surface for playing soccer, if it's made of delicate living cells? Why are soccer balls designed with twelve pentagons and twenty hexagons? How long does it take for the image of a soccer ball in the eye to reach the brain? Why do balls curve? How long is the foot in contact with the ball during a kick? Whose fault is it that referees make so many mistakes in assessing an offside violation? If you are curious about these questions, then this book is for you. Contrary to what the title implies, you don't need to know any soccer or science to read this book. (In Catalan -- coming in English soon.)
I also kept a related blog site (http://afolch.blogspot.com) that looked at FCBarcelona's state of affairs with a scientific perspective (in English, Spanish, and Catalan). In 3 years I wrote 29 short-format jesty articles. The site is still up but it was too much work.
Atrapats a Internet (Caught on the Internet), 2nd ed.
Editorial Empúries, 1997
"Atrapats a Internet" is addressed to those who want to learn what Internet is and what it is useful for, to those who don't know well who invented it or who is paying for it. This book is for those who get lost on the Internet and for those who still don't know why it is important to use it. This book also claims that net access should be guaranteed the same way that access to health care and education is in some countries. (In Catalan.) "One of the most intelligent books about the Internet one can find" - Newspaper Avui.
Atrapats a Internet (Caught on the Internet), 1st ed.
Editorial Empúries, 1997
Out of print.