An eHealth Android Application for Mobile Analysis of Microplate Assays

Drug efficacy assays with microplate readers are a key aspect of the modern drug discovery process. However, microtitre plate readers are expensive laboratory equipment and not easily transportable. We have created a prototype Android smartphone application that enables smartphones to measure the concentration values in microplate wells. We find that the smartphone camera measures concentrations of red and yellow solutions more accurately than green. Further, concentration readings are most accurate when microplates are backlit and sources of noise (such as glare and shadows) are removed. Therefore, we designed a simple dark box to control ambient light, which reduces the error in measurements to within 7% of a laboratory microplate reader. An affordable and mobile alternative to a microplate reader is expected to support drug research in developing countries by enabling rapid, cheap drug assays in small laboratories and in field work with a standard Android smartphone

Renewal ecology: conservation for the Anthropocene

The global scale and rapidity of environmental change is challenging ecologists to reimagine their theoretical principles and management practices. Increasingly, historical ecological conditions are inadequate targets for restoration ecology, geographically circumscribed nature reserves are incapable of protecting all biodiversity, and the precautionary principle applied to management interventions no longer ensures avoidance of ecological harm. In addition, human responses to global environmental changes, such as migration, building of protective infrastructures, and land use change, are having their own negative environmental impacts.We use examples from wildlands, urban, and degraded environments, as well as marine and freshwater ecosystems, to show that human adaptation responses to rapid ecological change can be explicitly designed to benefit biodiversity. This approach, which we call “renewal ecology,” is based on acceptance that environmental change will have transformative effects on coupled human and natural systems and recognizes the need to harmonize biodiversity with human infrastructure, for the benefit of both

Renewal ecology: conservation for the Anthropocene

The global scale and rapidity of environmental change is challenging ecologists to reimagine their theoretical principles and management practices. Increasingly, historical ecological conditions are inadequate targets for restoration ecology, geographically circumscribed nature reserves are incapable of protecting all biodiversity, and the precautionary principle applied to management interventions no longer ensures avoidance of ecological harm. In addition, human responses to global environmental changes, such as migration, building of protective infrastructures, and land use change, are having their own negative environmental impacts. We use examples from wildlands, urban, and degraded environments, as well as marine and freshwater ecosystems, to show that human adaptation responses to rapid ecological change can be explicitly designed to benefit biodiversity. This approach, which we call renewal ecology, is based on acceptance that environmental change will have transformative effects on coupled human and natural systems and recognizes the need to harmonize biodiversity with human infrastructure, for the benefit of both