New Technologies

A Medical Break-Through


Researchers might have found a technique, which could symbolize a new dimension of examination. They are developing an invisible tattoo that can track the sodium and glucose level in your body through the help of an iPhone App. Which sounds like a scene of a Science Fiction movie could soon be part of people's everyday life: "I don't think there's any doubt that this sort of technology will catch on." says Jim Burns, head of drug and biomedical research and development.
Originally developed as an alternative to the finger-prick bloodletting, which is the standard technique of measuring the glucose level of diabetic people, this technology might go a lot further: Scientists hope to soon be able to measure dissolved gases such as nitrogen and oxygen, which indicate respiration and lung function.
But first how this is supposed to work after all:
In a first step, a solution containing different types of nano particles is injected into the skin. They will stay at the place they have been injected but will be invisible until an iPhone with the special App is placed on top of them so that they start fluorescing.
As soon as the particles are under the skin, they start to attract their target particles (in this case for example glucose) as they have the opposite charge. Once the target particles are taken up, the sensor molecules release ions in order to maintain an overall neutral charge. This in fact changes the fluorescence of the tattoo when it is hit by the light of the iPhone.
Finally, the more target molecules there are in the patient's body, the more molecules will bind to the sensor in order to neutralize the uneven charge and the more the fluorescence changes.
The special iPhone case that provides the special light could soon be an every day life product, as it would look like a normal case containing a nine-volt battery, a filter that fits over the iPhone's camera and three LED's. The iPhone will take a photo of the fluorescence to later transfer it to a computer program which can measure the amount of the target particles.
This might be the only disadvantage so far - the time it takes from making the molecules fluorescence until the result is finally there. And, of course, the technique is still in the state of testing to make sure it doesn't affect the patient's health.


Charging cell phones at Starbucks
Who doesn't know this problem - you're on the run and don't have the time to charge your cell phone anymore. Sure, you're just meeting for a coffee with your friend, but though your cell phone battery will be empty by then and you might miss the important call of your boss. So what to do - standing your friend up for one hour of charging your phone?
Starbucks seems to have found a solution for this problem. Due to the latest decision of the WWCC (World Wide Cell phone Corporation) all cell phones sold in 2012 will have the same charging port which will allow one universal charger for all of them. "On average, each person buys a new cell phone every two years, so that until 2014 everybody will have one of the new cell phones with the universal port" explains Andy Callaugher, chairman at WWCC. Furthermore he says "this will save us up to 2000 tons of electronic litter each year". This is because each time you bought a new cell phone in the past, you had to buy a new charger for it as well so that the old charger (as well as the old phone) have been trashed.