CDs Get A Second Life Courtesy Of Binghamton University Research

It's amazing to me how quickly has music changed in the past few decades as far as the format in which it is recorded on. When I started in radio, our music was played primarily on records, both single and album form, along with some on reel-to-reel tape.

Records transitioned to carts that resembled 8-track tapes, then to compact discs, and now in digital form. All these changes in just four decades. I have piles of records I never play, along with cassettes and even compact discs, since my personal library is all in digital form now.

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With Compact discs not much in demand like they used to be, probably just stored away collecting dust, and that means not just music CDs, but also DVDs and video game discs among others as well, there must be a future use for them, but what? Well, I'm glad you asked.

One way these discs are getting a second life is through a local project. According to Binghamton University, many old discs have ended up in landfills and that's not good for the environment.

So, the Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science at Binghamton University has found a new use for those discs. The idea is to turn them into flexible biosensors. The University states that these biosensors are easily manufactured and even better, it's not expensive.

So, what are these biosensors used for? According to Binghamton University, the gold metallic layer on the discs and be separated from the plastic and made into sensors that "monitor electrical activity in human hearts and muscles as well as lactose, glucose, pH and oxygen levels. The sensors can communicate with a smartphone via Bluetooth."

The process takes less than 30 minutes and the cost comes to about $1.50 per device. For more on this amazing local discovery, visit the Binghamton University News website.

[via Binghamton University]