A new handheld all-purpose detector, compatible with any internet-accessible phone through the headphone slot, has been developed and first presented on August 4th in the National Academy of Sciences.
Dubbed the “universal mobile electrochemical detector”, it uses off-site analysis (this is where the internet capability comes in) to make sense of the data it is drawing from whatever is put into its sample well or into contact with its 3 electrodes. A single charge can have this multitool working for over a year, allocating most of the complicated to the cloud server through the mobile phone.
“All that is required is to insert the strip, select the test, apply the sample, and place a phone call,” reports a team led by George Whitesides at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The device holds the potential to analyse heavy metal content, blood-sugar levels, or even the presence of parasites like malaria. This represents an unbelievable opportunity for those who live outside of the cities and still need fast analysis of any number of samples (from their own body or in their environment). Although not yet in production, the developers cite a production cost of merely $25. Even with a 50% profit margin, $50 for a multipurpose, high quality, analytical tool is a great deal and would help millions worldwide.