Ptooie!

Most people would consider it a bad idea to spit on expensive electronics, but this case might be an exception. Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute for Science and Technology are developing a process to diagnose diseases quickly and easily — the process involves saliva and an iPhone, reports Forbes. The researchers say the sensitive touch screen of the iPhone and other smartphones could be used like diagnostic chips. A droplet of fluid would be pressed to the phone's touch screen for "instant disease detection," Forbes says, without the added expense of sending a sample to a lab to analysis. "The KAIS innovation harnesses a touchscreen’s 'capacitive sensitivity,' its ability to sense a fingertip's electrical charge," Forbes adds. "The iPhone touch screen's sensitivity extends far beyond that needed to sense a finger touch or tap, leading researchers to speculate what else it could detect, such biomarkers in bodily fluids signifying the presence of disease."