Someone with a PhD in microbiology explained to me (a layman) why what Theranos was claiming to do was impossible. She said you cannot test only a single drop of blood for certain things because what you are looking for literally may not be there. You need a full vial of blood to have a reliable chance of finding many things.
1. Is this simple but clear explanation basically correct?
2. If so, how could Theranos hoodwink investors for so long when possibly *millions* of well-educated people around the world knew that what they were claiming to do made no sense?
In: Biology
Fraud, in simple terms.
Not only was there not enough of a sample to test to a high enough certainty, but many of the instruments used to test blood cannot be miniaturised into the footprint they were promising due to instrument incompatibilities. The way they kept investors on for so long was by using existing instruments to do testing under the name of their new machine.
Latest Answers