The chip relies on the paper wicking the fluids along carved channels to reagents that change colour to reveal the result (Image: G Whitesides/PNAS)
Origami artists can turn paper into all manner of ingenious objects. It’s unlikely, though, that anyone has tried to make a functioning medical lab that way – until now. With the help of some bits of carpet tape, a portable testing kit made of paper could transform medical care in poor countries.
Much diagnosis depends on tests of body fluids, such as for sugar in urine or viral proteins in mucus. Some such tests are now automated…
