Now they are: advances in nanotechnology have made it possible to put an entire medical lab into one high-powered chip, which not only fits in the palm of your hand, but also performs diagnostic tests in a matter of minutes.
Researchers are gradually finding ways to create reliable, nano-sized labs that are able to perform a variety of diagnostic tests, which used to require teams of people and weeks of waiting. The tiny wafers of glass or plastic work by compressing a series of tests. For example, the Guardian reports Professor Tom Duke at the London Center for Nanotechnology is working on a "lab-on-a-chip" to test for HIV.
In Duke's chip, a drop of blood is separated by nanometer-sized pillars, which then trap larger elements such as blood cells and proteins. Virus particles pass through this trap (which acts like a nano-sieve) where they hit a series of levers coated with antibodies that bend when they are hit. The more they bend, the more virus is present.
These tiny labs hold a lot of promise. Not only do they deliver results quickly, but they require very little input (just a drop of blood, for example, instead of a proper blood test). This is enormously useful for helping test and cure people in under-developed countries, which may not have access to full labs. Right now, the chips are expensive to make and accordingly have not been integrated into many hospitals. As the price and size drop, expect to hear more about these micro-labs.
Making things smaller is difficult. As the actual size of a device -- say, a phone -- decreases, its components need to become smaller while improving functionality and speed. This disproportionate relationship can put a lot of stress on your favorite gadgets. While consumer gadgets can be released with fixable flaws (for example, the iPhone 4 "antennagate" ), the same luxury cannot be afforded to medical technology.
We all witnessed the Apple-induced anger of antennagate, so imagine if a similar design flaw resulted in an incorrect diagnosis or a false-negative?