The phase-change incubator is a low-cost, low-maintenance
incubator
An incubator is anything that performs or facilitates various forms of incubation, and may refer to:
Biology and medicine
* Incubator (culture), a device used to grow and maintain microbiological cultures or cell cultures
* Incubator (egg), a de ...
that tests for
microorganism
A microorganism, or microbe,, ''mikros'', "small") and ''organism'' from the el, ὀργανισμός, ''organismós'', "organism"). It is usually written as a single word but is sometimes hyphenated (''micro-organism''), especially in olde ...
s in water supplies. It uses small balls containing a chemical compound that, when heated and then kept insulated, will stay at 37 °C (approx. 99 °F) for 24 hours. This allows cultures to be tested without the need for a laboratory or an expensive
portable incubator. Thus it is particularly useful for poor or remote communities. The phase-change incubator was developed in the late 1990s by
Amy Smith, when she was a graduate student at
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
. Smith has also started a non-profit organization called ''A Drop in the Bucket'' to distribute the incubators and to train people on how to use them to test water quality. Her “Test Water Cheap” system could be used at remote locations to test for bacteria such as E.coli.
Embrace
Embrace may refer to:
* A hug, a form of physical intimacy
* Acceptance
Music Bands
* Embrace (American band), a post-hardcore band from Washington, D.C.
* Embrace (English band), a post-Britpop band from West Yorkshire
* Embrace (duo), a Dan ...
, an organization that from Stanford University, is applying a similar concept to design low-cost incubators for premature and
low birth weight
Low birth weight (LBW) is defined by the World Health Organization as a birth weight of an
infant of or less, regardless of gestational age. Infants born with LBW have added health risks which require close management, often in a neonatal inten ...
babies in developing countries.
See also
*
Appropriate technology
Appropriate technology is a movement (and its manifestations) encompassing technological choice and application that is small-scale, affordable by locals, decentralized, labor-intensive, energy-efficient, environmentally sustainable, and loca ...
References
External links
Student's low-cost solution aids high-tech problem in Africa
American inventions
Appropriate technology
Microbiology equipment
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