In a world filled with smartphone innovations, iPhones are not just good for time saving apps - they may even one day save your life.
According to the latest scientific research coming out of NASA and a report filed by LiveScience, a postage stamp sized chemical sensor which can be plugged into an iPhone will convert the popular smartphone into a chemical detector.
The tiny iPhone plug-in would also work in tandem with other similarly equipped smartphones over a larger network or WiFi connection. By placing the sensor on a greater number of smartphones, the idea is to achieve a higher rate of detection for chemicals, with phones relaying information about chemicals over the network.
The silicon sensor chip is made up of 64 nanosensors which will be capable of tracing chemical elements such as ammonia, chlorine gas and methane.
The iPhone was chosen for its ability to function over long hours (with decent battery life), operate using low wattage and because of its obvious popularity for third party developers, who are keen on utilising the phone's unique computational abilities.
Unfortunately, due to restrictions unveiled by Apple in the last 12 months, developers and researchers are no longer able to hack the iPhone's architecture in the way that is required to continue further research.
NASA scientists hope that Apple will see the importance of their research and allow the work to proceed unaided by removing jailbreaking restrictions. The NASA team are hoping that US security agencies might be able to convince Apple management to bend the rules.
A fully working prototype of the device would ideally decode the chemical data and display the chemical concentration, humidity and temperature on screen - essentially bypassing the need to analyse the data on a separate computer. The phone's GPS would contribute location coordinates.
This isn't the first time mobile phones have been touted as potential anti-terrorist tools. Researchers from Purdue University have been busy in the last two years designing a system that would allow mobile phones to detect tiny radiation particles in the air.
The Purdue system would also utilise 'collective sensor action', turning millions of mobile phones into radioactive sniffers, similar to NASA's chemical detection system.
Emergency response personnel such as firefighters may also find such a device helpful, especially in determining the best course of action when it comes to working with chemical spills.