Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Cambridge University biotechnologists have developed holographic sensors that change colour in the presence of certain compounds in order to monitor medical conditions such as diabetes.
The "smart" holograms can be used to create low-cost, portable medical sensors that can test blood, breath, urine, saliva or tear fluid for compounds including glucose, alcohol, hormones, drugs or bacteria.
The holograms are made using a highly absorbent material called a hydrogel -- similar to the material used to make contact lenses -- flecked with silver nanoparticles. A laser pulse causes the nanoparticles to arrange themselves into three-dimensional holograms with specific, pre-determined layers in a fraction of a second. The layers have a precise distance between them, which causes them to have certain optical properties that make them appear a certain colour.
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-01/28/holographic-diagnostics
The "smart" holograms can be used to create low-cost, portable medical sensors that can test blood, breath, urine, saliva or tear fluid for compounds including glucose, alcohol, hormones, drugs or bacteria.
The holograms are made using a highly absorbent material called a hydrogel -- similar to the material used to make contact lenses -- flecked with silver nanoparticles. A laser pulse causes the nanoparticles to arrange themselves into three-dimensional holograms with specific, pre-determined layers in a fraction of a second. The layers have a precise distance between them, which causes them to have certain optical properties that make them appear a certain colour.
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-01/28/holographic-diagnostics