Mobile technology has the X-ray factor

It won’t allow users to jump tall buildings in a single bound or travel faster than a speeding bullet, but a new mobile phone could give people X-ray vision.

Using a high-tech chip, the phone would allow users to see through walls, wood, plastic and even clothing.

The new technology could also revolutionise cancer treatment by enabling doctors to examine people for tumors without damaging X-rays or large, expensive MRI scanners.

US scientists designing the phone claim it would also have day-to-day uses such as allowing renovators to detect studs in walls.

At present, it’s designed to work over a short range and works with a normal-sized microchip that could fit into phones and small devices.

The team’s research involves tapping into an unused range in the electromagnetic spectrum.

“We’ve created approaches that open a previously untapped portion of the electromagnetic spectrum for consumer use and life-saving medical applications,” says Dr Kenneth O, professor of electrical engineering at the University of Texas at Dallas.

As mobile technology becomes more ambitious, what other opportunities are there for entrepreneurs to tap into?