Handheld Scanner Diagnoses Diseases
Posted on Jul 9, 08 09:43 AM PDT
Medical science has progressed to such extent that a handheld nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) scanner has been developed, capable of diagnosing diseases and identifying pathogens on-the-go. This scanner is highly portable, being numerous times smaller compared to standard NMR spectroscopy machines. This is made possible by lining up nuclei in a sample using a powerful magnetic field and then zapping them with radio waves that cause them to wobble, or precess. The prototype is sensitive enough to detect a mere 10 bacteria in samples, and can also double up as a gizmo to test for water purity as well as gaseous samples. The design patent has already been filed, and the final product will be marketed in the near future.
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Legacy Comments
By Walt , 09/07/08 10:36 AM (CommentID #770710)
It is important to recognize that this device does not produce an image. The image shown is a stock image.
This is simply a method of sensitively detecting the presence of a given chemical in a given sample volume. For example, such a chemical could be tagged to an antibody that bonds to a type of bacteria to test for the presence of the bacteria.
This is interesting technology and I hope to hear more about it.
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