Saving Lives at Birth

Mobile phone technology is also being harnessed by Massachusetts General Hospital with their heat detector to diagnose pneumonia. Hibbert explained to me that the device she bought at the hardware store works, but it is too expensive for many of the healthcare settings who need it most. Instead, her team have invented a little clip-on attachment that turns any smartphone into a heat sensor. Point it at babies’ and young children’s chests, and sure enough, the thermal images that pop up on the smartphone screen correspond to the x-ray patterns that diagnose pneumonia.