Detecting the presence of potentially deadly microbes to become cheap and fast soon. It would make it easy for you to keep your food away from bacteria, and hence your health safe. US researchers at the Purdue University in Indiana devised a new, laser-based method that can identify bacterial colonies after just a few hours of growth! The device is called a laser scatterometer.
The scatterometer can automatically recognize a bacterium in the future, once its analytical software learns its bacterial pattern. Thus, the researchers aim to build a database of microbes that would enable the system to identify without further human input in future.
The entire hardware for the system consists of a small laser diode, screen, Petri dish, computer, and digital camera. Amazingly, it costs even less than $1000, compared to the work it can do!
Via: New Scientist
