Google Glass can potentially help save lives: Study

Google's hi-tech wearable computing device, Glass, could potentially help save lives, scientists have revealed.

Researchers at the University of California have been working on a Google Glass app that takes a picture of a diagnostic test strip and sends back the data to computers to rapidly trigger back diagnostic report to the user.

The study, pubished in the journal ACS Nano, noted that the device's ability could also help researchers track the spread of diseases around the world.

Researcher Aydogan Ozcan said that it was very important to detect emerging public health threats early, before an epidemic arises and many lives are lost.

Ozcan explained that their app for Google Glass and remote computing and data analysis power could deliver a one-two punch -provide quantified biomedical test results for individual patients, plus analyze all those data to determine whether an outbreak is imminent.

If a user is in a remote area without Wi-Fi, then he or she could connect Glass to a smartphone to transmit the data along with geographical information for disease tracking.

The team successfully used the method with HIV and prostate-specific antigen (known as "PSA") assays in their pilot tests and the results were available within eight seconds for each individual test.

The highly controversial device is expected to hit stores this year.