Model Airplane Bio-weapon Sniffers [CNN]

[Jim Choate]

Forwarded message:

> X-within-URL: http://www.cnn.com/TECH/science/9809/09/science.weapons.reut/

>                 "TOY PLANES" COULD SNIFF OUT BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS

>    LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. defense scientists have developed small
>    radio-controlled planes capable of "sniffing out" the presence of
>    biological weapons, a British magazine reported on Wednesday.
>    
>    New Scientist said the aircraft, described by one of their developers
>    as "like little toy planes," are designed to fly low into danger zones
>    looking for up to four suspected types of bacteria.
>    
>    As they patrol, air is forced into an on-board sampling chamber,
>    creating a vortex in a pool of water, the magazine said.
>    
>    Every five minutes, water from this chamber is pumped over a sensor
>    consisting of four optical fibres, each of which has a probe fixed to
>    its core.
>    
>    Each probe is coated with an antibody to which the spores of a
>    particular bacterium will bind if present in the water.


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