Phone sniffs your breath to detect diseases…

Applied Nanodetectors Ltd (AND) of the UK prototyped a mobile phone that can detect various diseases from user’s breath and exhibited it at the International Nanotechnology Exhibition & Conference (nano tech 2009).

The handset was manufactured by Nokia Corp of Finland. AND is aiming to do businesses with Japanese mobile carriers, the company said.

The mobile phone is embedded with AND’s chip that integrates sensors to detect various gases such as CO2, NOx and ammonia (NH3).

This chip determines the composition of the user’s breath and tabulates the density of each gas. By matching the results with characteristics of various diseases, it can detect diseases. The matching process is similar to fingerprint matching, said Victor Higgs, managing director of AND.