We’re getting that much closer to the merging of man with machine. Princeton University researcher Michael McAlpine has developed a technique wherein a graphene sensor can be attached to a human tooth, detecting bacteria in the area and sending that single to a wireless receiver.

Before you start reaching for your tinfoil hat, realize that this research is still quite early and even McAlpine himself isn’t sure what the ultimate commercial application will be. The demonstration is with a human tooth and it’s the first time that the sensor has been “interfaced directly with biological tissue,” but it could just as easily be applied to other surfaces too.

A silk-graphene “tattoo” is attached to the tooth and then it is rinsed with water to dissolve the silk support. The ultra-thin circuitry remains and it is then ammended with bifunctional peptides and naturally occurring antimicrobial proteins (AMPs). A small electric field is modulated in the presence of bacteria and an RFID reader can then pick up on these signals and the bacterial concentration can then be determined.

I imagine there are some interesting medical applications that could come out of this research, but as always, further study is required.

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He’s a cognitive science researcher and this has been a hobby interest of his for several years. Jansen first began work on the project in 2007, sparked by curiosity and looking to spark curiosity in others. With the second-generation model, he has loaded up a couple of OLED resistive touchscreens and plenty of sensors.

The new Tricorder can measure temperature, humidity, magnetic fields, atmospheric pressure, color, ambient light level, GPS location, and distance to an object. It’s actually pretty advanced and it all runs on Debian Linux. Power comes by way of six AAA batteries. Even better, Jansen is offering up the whole project for free for others to attempt. The schematcs are available through a TAPR non-commercial hardware license and the source code is available under GPL.

[Source]

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*** Grain of salt alert ***

Remember that Lytro point-and-shoot box camera we talked about back in October? Well, it appears like Steve Jobs was “interested” in that technology, so that’s enough for people to “speculate” that the sensor might make its way into an iPhone sometime in the future.

The new info comes to us courtesy of the folks over at 9to5Mac who went through a new book by Fortune Magazine’s Adam Lashinsky titled, Inside Apple. According to the book, Jobs met with Lytro inventor and CEO Ren Ng to discuss about the possibilities of using Lytro technology in an iPhone.

Just in case you are wondering what this new tech is all about, the Lytro “whole light field” camera, which contains an f/2 aperture and an 8x optical zoom lens, captures all the light rays flowing in its direction instead of fixed focus pixels. This will allow you to take photos whenever you want and you can focus on anything from the scene at a later point in time.  Yeah I know, sounds wild. Although the first Lytro camera captures just 1MP photos, the technology allows the manipulation of the pictures in many ways: such as changing the depth of field and focus. You can simply forget about getting that shot in focus, and just take it.

The possibilities are endless if this type of technology reaches an iPhone sometime in the future, it will be even better when combined with specialized apps. But there are problems; the big size of the sensor and the picture quality, but that can always be improved in time. And manufacturers will also get a chance to incorporate fixed-focus lenses into the devices instead of the thicker autofocus ones.

But we are not expecting Apple to start playing with the new tech until it matures. It seems unlikely that it will be available on the next-generation iPhone. But we believe it will be just awesome when it finally arrives.

The post How Would You Like An iPhone 5 With A Lytro Sensor? appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Mobile phones are getting thinner and thinner, but can only be made as thin as the internal parts that are required to build them. Sharp has unveiled their latest product, a tiny 12.1 megapixel camera sensor, which appears to be paving the way for thinner smartphones.

The Sharp RJ63YC100 camera sensor is being claimed by the company to be the thinnest in the industry. The sensor measures in at a mere 5.47 millimeters high and is less than half an inch deep.

The new sensor is also capable of shooting full HD (1080p) video and features built-in image stabilization which will allow you to take good pictures in shaky situations.

The sensor is expected to end up in future smartphones, especially a new iPhone model. As you might know, rumors are already flying around that Sharp will be the touchscreen supplier for upcoming iDevices.

Although Sony is providing iPhone’s current camera, it certainly wouldn’t be a bad idea for Apple if they sign deals with a single manufacturer for touchscreen and camera sensor shipments. Of course more phone manufacturers may also jump in on the action as well.

Samples of the sensor have been shipped to phone makers around the world. We are expecting that it won’t take too long for interested companies to make an announcement that the new sensor will be used in an upcoming handset.

The sensor is expected to come with a price tag of 12,000 yen, around $154. That increases the possibility of a slightly expensive smartphone. What do you think?

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