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The Final Dakar · Feb 1, 2012, 05:42 PM

This Is NASA's Cancer-Sniffing Cellphone Sensor

It's a small chip (about the size of a postage stamp) that houses 32 nanosensor bars. Each bar is composed of a different nano-structure material. Because each sensor bar is unique it can respond to different chemicals in different ways, enabling it to not only differentiate between them, but also to monitor their relative levels, in real time.

The first usage was monitoring for fuel leaks around launch vehicles. They've been on the International Space Station since 2008, monitoring air-quality and checking for formaldehyde in the air. Future applications could include taking samples on asteroids and Mars missions.

It's primarily being developed to monitor carbon monoxide as well as chlorine, ammonia, and methane in your home.But these things could really be used anywhere because they're so small.

The most exciting potential use, though, is how it could diagnose and monitor people with medical conditions. For example, for diabetes patients there is a direct correlation between the level of acetone in their breath and the level of sugar in their blood.

The Final Dakar · Feb 2, 2012, 10:46 AM

subego · Feb 2, 2012, 10:55 AM

Here, take an upvote.

The Final Dakar · Feb 2, 2012, 10:59 AM

I'd rather no one had responded rather than you. Nothing personal, but if its the same one person giving me charity, it begins to reflect poorly on me.

subego · Feb 2, 2012, 11:07 AM

My apologies.

The Final Dakar · Feb 2, 2012, 11:09 AM

By the way, I'm not actually serious. But this does seem to be our Lounge dynamic.

subego · Feb 2, 2012, 11:24 AM

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar

By the way, I'm not actually serious. But this does seem to be our Lounge dynamic.

I didn't think you were serious. The best snarky response I could come up with was to pretend you were.

Is that really our dynamic? I mean, you're definitely charitable to my threads, but I don't see myself doing (or needing to do) the opposite.

Here, I was just following the rule that reddit begets reddit, but was too lazy to make a penguin.

Uncle Skeleton · Feb 2, 2012, 11:50 AM

I predict this technology goes nowhere with medicine and safety, but somehow ushers in the age of smell-o-vision. What do I get if I win?

The Godfather · Feb 2, 2012, 11:53 AM

The west has become so lazy that we don't even want to type our thoughts in a diminishing returns forum. Our best bet would be to enroll in an Asian MacNN and basque in their flourishment/vibrancy.

Or develop a Dragon/Siri posting app because we are just so damn lazy. And the nineties are not coming back.

The Godfather · Feb 2, 2012, 11:59 AM

Originally Posted by Uncle Skeleton

I predict this technology goes nowhere with medicine and safety, but somehow ushers in the age of smell-o-vision. What do I get if I win?

The tricorder is going nowhere with the current medicine-for-profit status quo. Some Chinese style state capitalism, aka cronyism, is needed to make sure a tricorder sees the light of day this decade.

andi*pandi · Feb 2, 2012, 12:07 PM

Would the computer's misdiagnosis rate be better or worse than a human doctor?

reader50 · Feb 2, 2012, 02:19 PM

You guys may remember the X Prize Foundation, which offered a few million for the first civilian space-launch vehicle. Well, now they are offering a $10 million prize for developing the first medical tricorder. Wikipedia page

subego, I expect results. And no wire nuts, please.

subego · Feb 2, 2012, 02:56 PM

A day without my wire nuts is like a day without sunshine.

The Godfather · Feb 2, 2012, 05:34 PM

Originally Posted by Uncle Skeleton

I predict this technology goes nowhere with medicine and safety, but somehow ushers in the age of smell-o-vision. What do I get if I win?

A ticket to spy kids 4d (smellovision)

SSharon · Feb 2, 2012, 06:20 PM

Originally Posted by reader50

You guys may remember the X Prize Foundation, which offered a few million for the first civilian space-launch vehicle. Well, now they are offering a $10 million prize for developing the first medical tricorder. Wikipedia page

subego, I expect results. And no wire nuts, please.

When I saw the thread title this is what I was thinking of. Was it posted on slashdot recently? I'm sure that is where I remember it from.

jmiddel · Feb 2, 2012, 10:10 PM

The Tricorder somehow scanned the whole body internally, like a super super scan, the NASA tech only uses chemical signatures that leave the body. That said, a lot of health problems cause the body to emit different chemicals than a healthy one, which is why we can train dogs to identify certain cancers. Biologists and physicists are working hard to refine the NASA stuff to analyze the presence of bacteria viruses abnormal chemicals not only gaseous but fluid as well. I believe that in less than 20 years we will have small handheld devices that can run a whole bunch of labs in a few minutes using that tech. Just look at the price drop in genomic testing over the last 5 years.

Waragainstsleep · Feb 3, 2012, 05:27 AM

I think a terahertz scanner would be fairly handy to have on a tricorder.

Uncle Skeleton · Feb 3, 2012, 01:37 PM

Originally Posted by The Godfather

A ticket to spy kids 4d (smellovision)

Not worth it, I demand 5 Ds or more. I withdraw my prediction.

Waragainstsleep · Feb 3, 2012, 02:18 PM

Originally Posted by Uncle Skeleton

Not worth it, I demand 5 Ds or more. I withdraw my prediction.

Ds 5-12 are there too, they're just curled up too small to notice.

Athens · Feb 9, 2012, 03:23 PM

I would reprogram it to tell me when some one is attracted to me or not lol