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EToday, billions of microorganisms, chemicals and mushrooms from around the world are invading your personal space, creating a unique cloud. For years, this cloud of microbiomes, or "exposome", has been a black box – we know it exists, but we do not really have the tools to take a look at it. Now, a team of Stanford researchers has developed a portable device capable of probing its dark depths. One day, they hope to put their technology on your smartwatch.
In an article published in Cell, the researchers compiled data on our exposure based on 70 billion readings of their device. They have identified more than 40,000 different types of bacteria, viruses and fungi that remain in our airspace, some of which are more user-friendly than others.
"We have no idea about our environmental exposure," says Michael Snyder, Ph.D., lead author of the study and director of the Stanford Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine. reverse. "What is really the decomposition of chemicals is not known. Nobody has really studied this before.
Some of the unseen things we are exposed to are rather harmless and fluctuate according to the season. For example, fall tends to introduce some types of mold and yeast into our orbit, while some mushroom spores reach their peak in winter, says Snyder. During periods of rain, his device also detected chemicals such as geosmine, the compound that smells of earth after a rainstorm.
But some clouds had a more sinister personality. The exhibition of a participant in the San Francisco study Alkanindiges, a bacterium that is usually found in sewage sludge. Others showed amounts of Aspergillus, a fungus that can sometimes cause the growth of mold in human lungs. And the 15 individuals in the study had traces of DEET and omethoate (two insecticides used to kill mosquitoes), as well as diethylene glycol, a toxic organic compound.
"It's important to know where these things come from in order to control them. I think what we see, in the long run, is that before buying a home, you may not do it if these chemicals are exposed, "says Snyder. "I think it puts you in control of your exposure to these nasty things."
A smarter smart watch
Devices for measuring particles in the air already exist, but they are usually static. They are placed in a room or on roofs of the city, where they can measure the level of certain elements, but can not accurately detect the types of elements – dangerous or not -. each individual is exposed to.
The laptop of Synder is different. Even if he wore it himself for two years, it's far from reasonable for everyday use for most of us. At the moment, it's quite bulky – about the size of a large box of matches. It must also be attached to the arm in order to constantly take samples of air at about half a liter per minute.
"What's special about us is that we have it on the person," says Snyder. "This is not [measuring] what the average person in New York or the average person in San Francisco is exposed to. It's your own exhibition.
Although the Synder device is really too bulky to compete with Apple or Samsung, its approach and analysis of exhibits is an interesting field that wearable technologies have not yet explored. While we have watches that can detect Cardiac arrhythmia, we have not yet seen a great brand create a laptop with the ability to detect all the different and potentially dangerous compounds in the environment.
"Somehow, I would like to see this as an inexpensive, portable device that anyone can wear," he says. "We need an inexpensive version that we can use wherever we go."
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