Smartphones have revolutionized how we talk to each other, play with each other, and help
each other -- so why not how we science each other?
Let's say science needs your help, or sometimes, you need science's help -- but who ya gonna
call?
NOT THE GHOSTPEOPLES.
Instead, let's do the science ourselves!
This isn't a new idea.
In 1999 the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence released a screensaver that let internet-connected
computers all over the world help SETI churn through massive amounts of data.
When the computer was idle, the screensaver would pop up and data analysis would begin!
Simple!
But distributed computing was just one way citizens could help research and science.
Today, scientists all over the world are beginning to harness the power of these little computers
we carry in our collective pockets; by crowdsourcing scientific research.
Accessories are being used to monitor the movement of bats and birds, map meteoroids,
and track temperatures; and some apps are even being used to treat depression using
self-help treatments administered via smartphone.
But one of my favorites takes advantage of something we already do… take pictures of
wildlife.
The Networked Organisms and Habitats project has an app that lets people take photos of
plants and animals and send it to Project NOAH for identification!
You can even complete missions, like logging GPS locations for flocks of birds, or photographing
specific insects near your home.
The camera is a super-power for the smartphone.
Smartphone lenses are built in to the devices themselves, but often little attachments can
be purchased to add wide-angles, zoom functions or, in science's case, magnification.
A 3-cent lens was developed for use with smartphones in classrooms.
Normally, schools have to buy microscopes for students, and many have to share because
they can cost as much as 10,000 dollars; but for simple experiments, these lenses allow
up to 120 times magnification, revealing cellular-level details for less than the cost of a single
text message.
Taking that idea even further, researchers at the University of California Los Angeles,
developed a tool that allows any smartphone to analyze DNA!
DNA is tiny, even stretched out it's only two nanometers long (50,000 times thinner
than a human hair), so the device comes with a lens to magnify the little bugger.
The lens is housed in a 3D-printed attachment and pictures can be taken using an app and
the phone's camera!
Then, the app communicates with UCLA's servers and analyzes the data.
The whole process takes ten seconds and according to their announcement, "could help diagnose
various types of cancers and nervous system disorders, such as Alzheimer's, as well as
detect drug resistance in infectious diseases" while in the field.
Field testing is a huge market for smartphone accessories, and thanks to another attachment
doctors in Rwanda have been able to test for potentially deadly viruses like HIV and syphilis
without a lab, or even electricity.
The device, developed by researchers from more than a half-dozen universities, government
agencies, laboratories and companies, pricks a finger (like a test for diabetes) and performs
an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay or ELISA test using power from the battery in the phone
to run the pumps and analyze the results.
Normally, blood has to be collected and sent to a lab, but this 34 dollar accessory has
a tiny vacuum chamber, and can accept pre-filled cartridges of reagents which allow it to automatically
complete the tests in only 15 minutes.
When we add-up all the conveniences for researchers, it's easy to see how these smartphone accessories
could change science forever.
Do you use any science apps?
Recommend some in the comments!
And if you want to know MORE about some of the topics we cover here on DNews, check out
my new show TestTubePlus -- where I spend a whole week on a single science topic!
It's so fun.
Here's an episode from our series about senses, we have WAY more than five (soundup[a]) Subscribe
to my new show, check it out, tell me what you think over on Twitter @tracedominguez.
And thanks for the love.