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Ask HN: Was Theranos' product impossible or just a failure?

5 pointsby iamnotwhoiamover 3 years ago
For any HNers in biochem, how ridiculous was the idea of what they were selling? Blood tests with small amounts of blood doesn&#x27;t strike me as impossible, but I don&#x27;t know anything about the subject.<p>Is this closer to AMD Bulldozer or to me raising $BILLIONS for my &quot;quantum-computer-in-this-box-you-cant-open&quot;?

1 comment

dr_faustusover 3 years ago
No biochem, but from what I read, it was highly doubtful that the product could even theoretically work because blood is not a completely homogeneous fluid. Concentrations of the things you want to test for vary by quite a lot if you take tiny samples from different places (esp. blood from small capillaries like in the finger tip).<p>That&#x27;s (at least one reason) why &quot;normal&quot; blood draws are quite a lot of blood. By thoroughly mixing the drawn blood, you get a much better approximation of the average concentration throughout the body.
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