BioQuakes

AP Biology class blog for discussing current research in Biology

iPhone, what’s next?

Credit: creative tools

It seems like every year technology is becoming more and more advanced and phones and computers are becoming capable to do some pretty interesting and exciting things. What is the next thing that your touch screen phone smartphone will be able to do? Some people may find the answer shocking…diagnose your illness! A recent study shows that many people have previously believed that a “USB-stick-sized throwaway device called a lab-on-a-chip” could be used to send tests to a lab without leaving your home but Hyun Gyu Park and Byoung Yeon Won, two scientists at the Korea Advanced Institute for Science and Technology, think that they can take that technology one step further.

Park and Won believe that the super sensitive touch screens on your phone could replace the lab work that would be needed for the lab-on-a-chip device. Park’s idea is to take the lab-on-a-chip with the sample and press it against the phone’s touch screen in order to be analyzed.  The analyzation would take place in an app that would be able to tell whether you have food poisoning, strep throat or the flu just from a small drop of saliva placed on the chip.

Park and Won have begun to do tests on the touchscreen to see if they are able to help in diagnosing our sickness.  In order to do the tests, they took three solutions containing different amounts of DNA from the bacteria that causes chlamydia and put small amounts onto a touch screen the size of that found on an iPhone. They found that the touch-sensing electrodes on the screen were able to tell the difference between the solutions even with the smallest quantities. Park says that this is the first step to creating this new piece of technology.

While this technology is still many years off with many more modifications needing to be made, the development is exciting and the idea of a phone diagnosing an illness is something that would change the lives of many people. What will our iPhones be able to do next?

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Previous

Turtle Telepathy

Next

Bad day? Just sleep it off

4 Comments

  1. nicleus2

    I was so interested by this article, that I decided to do further research. I did not quite understand how the screen of your iPhone would be able to read your illness. Thus, I came up with an article elaborating on the iPhones possibilities: http://www.mobiledia.com/news/118401.html

    The iPhone would use a disposable microchip that one could spit on. It would then send the sample to a lab for further research, and discover with your disease.

  2. biologiamaster

    The development of an iPhone capable of diagnosing bacterial infections is encouraging to think about. Recently i saw this link (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/239897.php) which talks about the top 5 health trends of 2012. They mention a DIY health app which currently allows smartphone owners to scan their skin using a program called Skin Scan which tracks moles over time, aswell as take their blood pressure and effortlessly send it to their doctor with the press of a screen. The article says the number of health related apps like this is going to explode in 2012.

  3. aminoalix

    WOW!
    That feature on a phone would be awesome!

    However, have you heard the recent rumors that iPhones can actually be dangerous? I found news of an interesting discovery linking cell phones, especially iPhones, to radiation being emitted into our bodies. Apparently, when your phone is on, radiation can enter your body and interfere with “normal cell activity.” iPhones have been suggested to be especially dangerous because of all the activity involved with apps.

    Here is the site: http://autismlarimer.blogspot.com/2009/06/dangers-of-iphone.html.

    I hope you check it out!

  4. gababoutbio

    It’s really amazing what iphones can do! Medically the iphone released a app for residents in hospitals and for people that may be getting a procedure done. This app is called Procedure consult, and it allows your to watch videos on the exact procedure with detailed parts along the way. It is very cool check out the pictures of this app in use!
    http://www.imedicalapps.com/2011/05/top-iphone-medical-apps-internal-medicine-physicians-residents/4/

Leave a Reply to nicleus2 Cancel reply

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén

Skip to toolbar