http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,336771,00.html
MIT Sensor Sniffs Anthrax, Smallpox in Minutes
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
By Mark Hachman
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have developed and licensed a new sensor, dubbed PANTHER, that can detect airborne pathogens within minutes, the university said last week.
The Pathogen Notification for Threatening Environmental Releases (PANTHER) sensor can detect the pathogens in as little as three minutes, MIT said.
The technology has been licensed to Innovative Biosensors Inc. (IBI) of Rockville, Md. In January, IBI began selling a product, BioFlash, that uses the PANTHER technology.
PANTHER is not alone among environmental sensors, but the university said the time to detect any bacteria or viruses was significantly smaller than rival sensors, which can take 20 minutes or more to detect the same organisms.
PANTHER can currently detect 24 pathogens, including anthrax, plague, smallpox, tularemia and E. coli, using just a few dozen particles in a liter of air.
The sensor actually uses modified human immune cells, called B cells, to detect the pathogens.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,336849,00.html
Admiral Fallon Resigns as Head of Centcom
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
WASHINGTON — Admiral William Fallon, the head of U.S. Central Command, which leads U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, is stepping down, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced Tuesday.
Fallon claimed ongoing misperceptions about differences between his ideas and U.S. policy are making it too difficult for him to operate, Gates said, agreeing. He added that the differences are not extreme, but the misperception had become too great.
“I don’t know whether he was misinterpreted or whether people attributed views to him that were not his views, but clearly there was a concern,” Gates said.
The misperceptions relate to an article published last week in Esquire magazine that portrayed Fallon as opposed to President Bush’s Iran policy. It described Fallon as a lone voice against taking military action to stop the Iranian nuclear program.
“I think this is a cumulative kind of thing,” Gates countered. “It isn’t the result of any one article or any one issue.”
Fallon has had a 41-year Navy career. He took the Central Command post on March 16, 2007, succeeding Army Gen. John Abizaid, who retired. Fallon previously served as commander of U.S. Pacific Command.
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