New napkin will detect biohazards
Cornell University researchers are developing a napkin that will be able to detect bacteria, viruses and other dangerous substances with a mere swipe.
The napkins, made with special nanofabrics, could have commercial use in food preparation or health care, said Margaret Frey, a professor of fiber science and apparel design at Cornell.
“It’s very inexpensive, it wouldn’t require that someone be highly trained to use it and it could be activated for whatever you want to find,” Frey said. “So if you’re working in a meat-packing plant, for instance, you could swipe it across some hamburger and quickly and easily detect E. coli bacteria.”
Computers approach quadrillion level
Supercomputers that perform trillions of operations every second are helping scientists probe life’s deepest complexities. But it’s still not enough.
On the horizon now are computers of greater than a “petaflop,” or 1 quadrillion computations per second. The National Science Foundation is seeking to fund such a computer, one that can sustain one to two “petaflops” with occasional peaks of about 10 times that amount.
Even one petaflop would be about three times faster than the peak of the world’s current top supercomputer, the 367-teraflop BlueGene/L made by IBM Corp. for the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore nuclear lab. IBM also has been working to surpass 1 petaflop.
Sprint launches mobile video network
Cell phone company Sprint Nextel Corp. is becoming a media company, producing its own sports and entertainment newscasts for its wireless Internet service in addition to the repackaged video programming it provides from TV networks and other content providers.
Sprint Power View will provide customers with about 25 minutes a day of brief, original segments on sports, entertainment and news. Among the offerings are NFL Game Center, hosted by sports broadcaster James Brown, and The Mobile Fix, a five-minute entertainment news show. Another called “New York Fashion Week” will feature interviews with fashion designers.