Doctors might be able to send blood samples to labs using drones
Amazon employees aren't the only people aiming to ship things quickly via drone. Doctors are testing out the technology, too.
A study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One reports early findings that it might be possible for doctors to send blood samples to laboratories from remote clinics up to 30 miles away. They ran 56 blood samples from healthy patients through common tests doctors order and found that the drone samples were preserved just as well as the ones that hadn't been airborne, Pacific Standard reports.
The Johns Hopkins University researchers say the next step could be testing the practice in remote regions of Africa. They'll also need to ensure drone flights perform equally well with blood from sick patients.
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