The Star Trek Tricorder is Almost a Reality — How Will This Change Our Society?

Having portable diagnostic equipment is the dream of every practical scientist and medic across the world. The ability to identify and isolate specific pathogens or trace contamination sources on the spot has, up until now, been a thing of fantasy. Now, new developments at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has taken us one step closer to a hand-held tricorder of Star Trek fame.

The mobile genome sequence analyser uses Apple based software to enable the user free rein to sequence DNA without the…