THE NEXT BIG THING?

A new, pocket-size scanner is like Google for objects, said Tim Bajarin in Time.com. The device, called Scio, is a handheld scanner featuring a spectrometer “that can scan physical items and tell you about their chemical makeup.” Scio measures the wavelengths of infrared light reflected off an object, compares the results to an external database, and then transmits a breakdown of the item’s molecular composition to a smartphone app. Currently, Scio works best on medications, plants, and food—allowing a user to determine the nutritional content of a piece of fruit, for instance. But as more users scan more items, developers hope to make Scio “smarter,” allowing it to analyze “just about any physical object.” The device is still in the prototype stage, but is expected to hit the market in December.