Once upon a time, tasters were employed by the well-to-do, in order to check that their food or drink wasn't poisonous. Today, there are electronic biosensors that can do more or less the same thing. Unfortunately, as was no doubt sometimes the case with the tasters, the biosensors can’t always give us immediate results. Additionally, they’re usually only able to test for specific substances, and not simply for “anything that’s toxic.” An experimental new device known as the Dip Chip, however, is said to address both of those problems.
The biosensor was created by Professors Yosi Shacham-Diamand and Shimshon Belkin, of Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, respectively.
It contains microbes, which have been genetically modified to produce a biochemical reaction whenever they’re exposed to a toxic material, not unlike the reactions that occur in humans and other animals. A dip stick-like tube holds the microbes immobilized, next to the device’s sensing electrodes. When that tube is introduced to a substance, the microbes will react accordingly, with any chemical signals released by them being converted into an electrical signal. The device analyzes the output of the electrodes, and delivers a “toxic” or “not toxic” diagnosis.