See this?
It’s a tiny, postage stamp-sized piece of paper with some cool shapes and colours. Except that, to someone in the world, those funky shades mean the difference between life and death.
Developed by George Whitesides, a chemist from Harvard University, it has the ability, with one drop of blood from a patient, to show whether said patient is suffering from diseases such as malaria, HIV, hepatitis, and tuberculosis. Not only that, it can also tell the severity to which the disease has developed.
With the third world countries in mind, this potential life-saver costs a penny to make. Incredibly, the secret ingredient is nothing more nor less than the coloured inks used in comic books.
Superman to the rescue once more!
Visit the Inhabitat page for more info, plus a little clip on how it works.
