Applied Nanodetectors Ltd (AND) has a rather ambitious vision – diagnosing a person’s health just by breathing into a cell phone. At this year’s International Nanotechnology Exhibition & Conference, the UK-based company presented the prototype of a cell phone embedded with their specialized medical chip. Manufactured by Finnish company Nokia, the handset carries AND’s chip and sensors needed to be able to accurately diagnose a disease.
According to source, the sensors are capable of determining the presence of gases such as carbon dioxide, ammonia and nitrogen oxide. After calculating for the density of each of the gases it identifies in the user’s breath, the chip matches the figures to a predetermined range of illnesses before coming up with the prognosis. AND says the process is pretty much like fingerprint matching. Asthma, food poisoning, diabetes and even lung cancer are but some of the conditions AND claims the technology can diagnose. It will be a while before we get to test its accuracy though – launch dates and even marketing schedule of the handset is yet to be determined.
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