Today, the venerable Petri dish for culturing living cells is still in wide use even though it has not changed substantially since it was invented in the 19th century by Julius Richard Petri. Now Caltech wants to bring the Petri dish into the 21st century. By disassembling a smartphone and using its camera and display to monitor and illuminate, Caltech's "smart" Petri dish can monitor cell culture activity 24/7.
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