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Smoke Rings
portable sensing device and simulator
2002-2005
Foley-Fisher, Z.; Rasmussen, J.; Karau, M.; O’Hanlon, B.; Cader, R.; Cherubini, M.; Strohecker, C. (Media Lab Europe / Everyday Learning)

      You can play "what if?" with levels and effects of environmental tobacco smoke. A handheld device detects significant chemical components of ETS. Changing levels register in real time as lines plotted around a clock-style display. The lines get longer and darker as chemical levels increase, and narrower and lighter as the levels decrease -- to create distinctive "smoke rings." You can upload the data to a simulator that projects possible long-term health effects of sustained exposures. The simulator shows X-ray-style visualizations of smoke-affected lungs, based on the commonly used metric of cigarette equivalency.

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