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Biosensors
| Article
# : |
12835 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
Date : |
2 / 1987 |
1,822 Words |
| Author
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Michael Woods
Michael Woods, a contributing editor for THE WORLD & I, has
received numerous science-writing awards. |
The physician environmental scientist, public health official, industrial chemist, and battlefield commander often have an urgent need for precise measurements of minute quantities of substances in blood, water, air, food, or other materials. Yet they must wait anxiously while samples of the material are analyzed for evidence of food poisoning, toxic wastes, nerve gas or any of a host of other substances.
Once the results of a conventional analysis are available, they may already be outdated, since they are retrospective and reflect conditions as they were when the samples were taken. Blood cholesterol levels that existed hours ago, pollution levels of a stream several days ago, or bacteria levels in food long since consumed or discarded may no longer be the same.
Securing precise measurements of minute quantities has traditionally required an extended time. Now, however, new hybrids of biological and electrochemical components seem likely to be the foundation of equipment providing highly precise, nearly instantaneous measurements of substances in blood, water, air, and soil.
The youthful but rapidly developing device which promises to revolutionize analytical procedures is the biosensor. Biosensors are successors of the caged birds once used to detect poisonous gases in coal mines and the rabbits used in pregnancy tests. If present indications are accurate, biosensors will generate a wide range of new technological marvels.
Biosensors promise more than a mere streamlining of the slow, laborious process of identifying and measuring substances. They are the key to a number of other major advances in medical and scientific technology, including the development of an artificial pancreas and other artificial organs that more accurately mimic the function of real organs. These "smart" artificial organs would continuously monitor variations in blood sugar, for example, and then release into the bloodstream the correct amount of insulin.
Taste and Smell For Robots
Biosensors will likewise be the key to fabricating industrial robots endowed with a complete complement of the five human senses. Robotics research has focused primarily on robots with visual and tactile capabilities and advances have been made in voice synthesis and recognition devices. Robots may now get the remaining two human senses - taste and smell - from
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