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Bedside Cancer Detector (spectrum.ieee.org)
43 points by yekmer 5583 days ago
5 comments

This headline is quite misleading. The article is about a new, less invasive way of diagnosing cancer, the prototype of which happens to have been implemented as a smartphone peripheral.
Exactly my thoughts.

We can't deny how versatile smart phones have become, but cutting edge in this case is not iPhone/any other smart phone, but TB Detector.

Phones have nothing to do with this. The advance was making an NMR small enough to be useful at the point-of-care.
The article doesn't mention iPhone or Android, except for the picture. In any case, I always wonder in general how these types of apps can be distributed for iPhones since it wouldn't qualify for the app store or for the enterprise developer program.
There's some great innovation over the last decade in diagnostic and treatment technology. It makes me wonder why health insurance premiums continue to rise at many times the rate of inflation.
The government mandates various coverages, restricts competition, taxes health care extra if purchased by individuals, restricts the number of doctors, and gives trial layers free run of the place.
True, but corruption's a two-way street - the people who write the checks are as bad as the people who cash them. Healthcare is a market that just doesn't seem to clear properly and the corruption is a symptom of market failure rather than the cause.
Is this really possible right now? For me it sounds like science fiction. Next we have a tricorder.