$2 Egg-beater centrifuge may save lives

Harvard’s George M. Whitesides has the highest Hirsch index of any living chemist, which makes him arguably the most significant in the world. The Hirsch or h-index is a kind of weighted score based on a numerical analysis of a scientist’s published work which factors in both the number of papers and the number of citations those papers receive by other authors.

Back in October of 2008, Whitesides, et. al. published a paper in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s journal Lab on a Chip that describes a technique for separating blood plasma for use in various immunoassays using a piece of plastic tubing taped to an eggbeater. The method can replace a $400 bench centrifuge for many purposes.