Virus-Detecting "Lab On a Chip" Developed At BYU 71
natharward writes "A new development in nano-level diagnostic tests has been applied as a lab on a chip that successfully screened viruses entirely by their size. The chip's traps are size-specific, which means even tiny concentrations of viruses or other particles won't escape detection. For medicine, this development is promising for future lab diagnostics that could detect viruses before symptoms kick in and damage begins, well ahead of when traditional lab tests are able to catch them. Aaron Hawkins, the BYU professor leading the work, says his team is now gearing up to make chips with multiple, progressively smaller slots, so that a single sample can be used to screen for particles of varying sizes. One could fairly simply determine which proteins or viruses are present based on which walls have particles stacked against them. After this is developed, Hawkins says, 'If we decided to make these things in high volume, I think within a year it could be ready.'"
uhh...... (Score:1, Funny)
what happens when the chip identifies humanity as a virus?
Oh man, its one of those days... (Score:4, Funny)
I read the whole summary twice thinking this had to do with computer viruses.
They even mention words like "Medicine" and "Proteins".
Oracle> INSERT "Monkeedude1212" INTO dual
AKA the Dummy table
Re:Oh man, its one of those days... (Score:4, Funny)
Obviously you haven't had your Jimmy Dean breakfast.
But does it run linux? (Score:4, Funny)
That way you wouldn't need to worry about vir...
Oh,
sorry.
Re:This will never work (Score:3, Funny)
Magic Underwear (Score:1, Funny)
Does this come with a free set of the magic underwear, or does that have to be bought separately?
Re:Okay guys... (Score:3, Funny)
Nah, computer viruses should just be called virii. It's a differentiation AND it'll annoy all the grammEr nazis. It's double plus good!
Re:This will never work (Score:3, Funny)
My wife keeps telling me that size doesn't matter
Who is she trying to convince?