iPhones have advanced so much that they are being used in a number of medical applications. All sorts of apps are now available from screening to managing one's disease. However, this innovation may be the most advanced yet.
Wall Street Journal has been discussing medical developments to a number of start up companies and one of them is 6SensorLabs. With the help of your smart phone, they have designed a device that can detect whether a food is gluten free or not.
The device called the Nima, might be the smallest organic-chemistry lab that can be carried around with you. This device is design for the sole purpose of detecting if a food is gluten free.
However the company says that this could just be a stepping stone for innovations like detecting bacteria in food that could cause food poisoning.
According to 6SensorLabs co-founder and Chief Executive Shireen Yates, the technology could be developed so it can detect all forms of proteins including those that will recognize the bacterial contamination such as E. coli and salmonella.
In just two minutes, an analysis would be available when it normally takes days for a regular laboratory to produce one, reports 9to5Mac . The company hopes that suppliers and restaurants will conduct regular testing and could take advantage of this technology. This may also be used by individuals. However, you will need to shell out $5 for every disposable "reaction chamber" needed for each test.
Another company called SCiO from Consumer Physics of Israel says that its camera-based technology may be integrated into future smart phones. Their cameras are used to identify substances by measuring the spectrum of light they reflect.
Meanwhile, Apple has shown more interest in health than most. Its ResearchKit platform may lead to open-source research which big pharmaceutical companies have shown interest in.
Do you think that start up companies can bring testing out of the chemistry lab? Let us know your thoughts by leaving your comments below.
