One of the things I like most about living in this period of our soon-to-become history is to witness all the amazing steps technology is constantly taking into improving our lives.
Once again the smartphone is the main character of our story, but this time it’s for the sake of Science.
A team of researchers and physicians led by Prof. Brian Cunningham from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, have developed a cradle for iPhone which runs with a custom app turning the smartphone into a powerful bio-sensing tool capable of detecting molecules such as viruses, toxins, proteins and bacteria.
The cradle contains a series of optical components – lenses and filters – which align with the camera of the smartphone – in this case, the iPhone.
You know what this means, right?
Scientifically speaking, this bio-sensing capabilities allows ground water and food contamination or medical diagnostic tests to be performed in situ, making bio-detection processes outside of laboratories a reality.
According to Prof. Cunningham “Smartphones are making a big impact on our society – the way we get our information, the way we communicate. And they have really powerful computing capability and imaging. A lot of medical conditions might be monitored very inexpensively and non-invasively using mobile platforms like phones.”
The team is working to improve the manufacturing process hoping to have the cradles available for next year. That soon!
But why don’t you just check out this short video created by the developers of the cradle and app. Trust me, it really helped me understand what it was all about: Smartphone Biosensor Demonstration
So? Did you like the video?
Stay tuned for more news about giant leaps in technology!
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Source: Illinois
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