Developed under the Cell-All program at NASA Ames Research Center this chemical sensing hacks on the iPhone is being termed as ‘proof of concept of new technology’. This brings a low cost and efficient ability to cellphones that can smell low concentrations of airborne ammonia, chlorine gas and methane.
Developed by physical scientist Jing Li, the device is as small as a postage stamp and embedded with 16 nano-sensors. The readings from the device can be transferred to any remote system over cellular network or wifi. Whether it’s Apple fanboyism or the superior hardware / software duo that lead to this development (or experiment as you may call it) on the iPhone is unknown, hope there is some real utility to this for NASA.(And in case you wanted to know what extent researchers and scientists go – you must watch this TED video! Also embedded below).