Cambridge scientists create a $10 chip that could put a medical lab on your wrist

A new optical sensor costing just $10 could bring laboratory-level precision to wearable health monitors, potentially allowing people to track blood glucose without needles. The technology could also transform food testing, industrial quality control, and environmental monitoring.

Traditional spectrometers generally separate incoming light into its component wavelengths or use complex calculations to reconstruct its spectrum. The new device takes another approach by performing a mathematical operation called convolution directly on the incoming light.