Harry Potter improves blood test
The user-friendly blood test can spell out your blood type on special bioactive paper. Image: annedde/iStockphoto Inspired by the ideas of author J.K. Rowling, Australian scientists have created a rapid new blood test that spells out a patient’s blood type on bioactive paper.Using research patented by Monash University, and published recently in Angewandte Chemie, the technology is able to quickly perform ABO and rhesus blood typing tests, and then clearly spell out the results for a user-friendly diagnosis.Created by Associate Professor Wei Shen, and colleagues at the Monash University Faculty of Engineering, the test is the first equipment-free, bioactive paper-based diagnostic device capable of reporting multiple conditions in written text.Professor Shen said the research was inspired by the film adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s novel Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.“In the film Harry Potter interrogates Tom Riddles’ diary by writing on a page of paper in the Diary “Do you know...