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DIY Biochemical Scanner From a Hacked CD Drive

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the bargain-health-care dept.

holy_calamity writes "Turns out hacking two extra light sensors into a CD drive can turn it into a lab scanner to read the results of high-accuracy immunoassays used to detect disease markers or pathogens, New Scientist reports. The drive proved able to detect pesticides at concentrations as low as 0.02 micrograms per liter."

1 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. Why so expensive? by SQLServerBen · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The real question is, if the laboratory machines are using more or less the same technology as the CD drives, why do the actual lab machines cost so much more? From TFA, the machine this replaces costs 30-60k Euro, compared to 15 Euro for a generic CD drive.