Triage is a system through which provision of medical treatment is allocated to maximise the number of survivors in a situation where demand for treatment is higher than the hospital is able to provide (1). In practice, this means that patients are treated according to the severity and urgency of their injury or illness as opposed to a first come, first served-based system. Triage initially began as a method of maximising survivors of battlefield injuries, and as such is historically a largely trauma-based system. Changing healthcare landscapes and demands have prompted triage to evolve into an integrated multi-stage system in which all kinds of injuries and illnesses must be accommodated and sorted to allow urgent cases to be treated as quickly as possible (2).

Contamination of food and drinking water is a significant source of disease transmission around the world. As demand for food rises along with the increasing global population, so does the need for efficient and affordable methods for food and environmental monitoring that are suitable for use in both developed as well as developing countries. Continuous monitoring of food safety parameters is essential to ensure that food products reaching consumers are of high quality and fit to eat, as well as for helping to reduce food waste. Environmental monitoring ensures the quality of water, soil, weather, and livestock involved in food production as well as the cleanliness of drinking water. Moreover, environmental monitoring can reduce environmental pollution and help fight climate change. 

Tracking one’s health and wellbeing has never been as easy as it is in the 21^st century. In addition to the wealth of health-related information easily available on the internet, the evolution of portable and wearable technology has made it possible to track aspects of one’s wellbeing on the go. Sleep quality, stress levels, and heart rate are only some of the health indicators that widely available smart devices allow users to assess. Wearable wellbeing diagnostics are in high demand and the industry is experiencing rapid growth: the number of connected wearable devices worldwide more than doubled between 2016 and 2019 and is expected to surpass 1 billion in 2022 (1), while the market for wearable health sensors is predicted to grow by 10.5% between 2021 and 2026 (2).

Acute Coronary Syndromes (ACS) are caused by inadequate oxygen supply to the heart and can be fatal if not treated quickly after onset. Swift and accurate diagnosis is essential for patients with ACS to be identified quickly and provided with the best care possible (1). It is thus no surprise that research is continuously carried out to develop new and improved diagnostic tools and markers that would allow ACS cases to be detected with even greater accuracy, speed, and cost-efficiency than before. There is great interest in advancing the accuracy of point-of-care tests that would allow diagnostic testing to be carried out close to the patient as opposed to a central laboratory, leading to higher speed and reduced costs. Some improvements that have occurred in the diagnostics of ACS in recent years include highly sensitive cardiac troponin (cTn) tests, discoveries of new biomarkers of interest, and electrochemical biosensors as platforms for biomarker detection.