One of the biggest advantages to being able to use a cell phone as a scientific tool is the ability for underdeveloped nations to have fairly easy access to the same means as those more advanced. Here are 5 applications already available for use in tandem with a cell phone.

1 – Temperature Sensor Tags

Using either RFDC (Radio Frequency Identification Based Sensor
Networks) or battery operated sensors; the temperature of an object can be detected within 1 degree of accuracy. Having this technology available using cell phones could serve to be a great asset to the military, geologist, or just someone wanting to know if their child is too sick to go to school. Because Sensor tags can withstand extreme temperatures ranging from -80 degrees C to 200 degrees C, a mobile devise might provide data for a condition that is too dangerous for a human to physically endure, provided the phone itself can withstand these conditions as well.

2 – Weight Management

With the technology to manage your weight on your cell phone by linking it to a scale, pedometer and the doctor’s office, it might be possible to get a handle on the nation’s obesity problem. By combining some of the more popular applications such as grocery shopping and learning reminders with SMS messages sent to your phone, this would create a fully customizable weight management system accessible 24 hours a day. One advantage when linked directly to your doctor’s office, this gives you a virtual telemedical experience.

3 – Ultrasound Machine.

The future of determining the sex of your unborn child might be in the palm of your hand. Ultrasound probes for cell phones are already available to the public, but it likely will still be some time before you can walk into your local pharmacy and purchase one for personal use. Washington University research engineers have developed an application that allows for a cellular telephone to act as an Ultrasound Machine. This is done by using a USB ultrasound probe.
The possibilities for the future with this development are exciting and could give underdeveloped nations a great opportunity for better care.

4 – Microscope

The cell phone finally can live up to its name, the “Cell” phone. Now it has the ability to do exactly what it claims. An advance in cell screening technology was born at University of California, Berkeley
and has landed a new home within this household mobile device. What
started out as a challenge from a professor to his students has turned into a device called “CellScope” and has the capability to diagnose and research worldwide diseases like AIDS, tuberculosis and Sickle Cell Anemia in places this formerly was not a reality.

5 – Heart Monitor

Microsoft has partnered with a team of scientists at the University of Pittsburgh to develop a heart monitor that is powered by your cell phone. This application will have the ability to monitor a patient’s cardiac activity and send information to the individual’s medical records and health care providers. It even has the capability to call
911 and alert emergency medical technicians in the event of a dangerous drop in activity.

Most cell phones now hold more computing power than desktop computers did just a couple decades ago, a new revolution has begun to surface.
With the ability to enhance rather than limit Scientific Research, cell phones use will surely grow and become a necessity for the field of research.

This post was submitted by Elise Degrass, who writes about free cell phones for Cell Phones.org.