Portable DNA testing Kit

Everyone has heard of the show CSI and the infamous Forensic lab that coincides with it. Well now part of that lab will be with them at the scene as there is a new technology available to faster conclude what happened at a crime scene. Now available is a portable DNA detector which is now the size of a briefcase, and weighs approximately 10 kilograms. At a field test site where the Palm Beach county sheriff's office set up a mock crime scene, the unit was brought along. The research unit collected blood samples at the scene place them in the machine and in six hours had a positive match between the sample and a database of DNA. One of the researches Mathies states "This enables them to find the person and get crucial evidence before he or she leaves the region or country or destroys the evidence." Mathies also talked about how this would be great if the suspect has every been processed previously because now a days Law Enforcement takes DNA and fingerprints upon being processed in, having the information in the database allows for instant match.
Using Fluorescent lights and other accessories rather than chemical and biochemical reactions allows the unit to be much smaller than it is in the lab. The only major problem they seem to be having with the machine is the sensitivity and the limited amount of samples it can handle in its lifetime.

Sited from:http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/21415/

Clean-Coal debut in Germany

The worlds first coal-fired power plant designed to capture and store carbon dioxide was created. This plant used to excrete sulfurous smoke from the burning of brown coal. Located in Spremberg this new coal plant will be using a new technology called Carbon Capture and Storage. For CCS they will use there small 30 megawatt plant to burn lignite while it is in the air. This removes the nitrogen and it creates a cloud of smoke that contains Carbon Dioxide and water vapor. Three fourths of this cloud is recycled back into the boiler of the plant. They continue this cycle, which is known as oxyfuel. According to Vattenfall, the Swedish power company behind the plants operations, "continuing this cycle will remove nitrogen and water vapor, and leave wastes consisting of 98% carbon dioxide alone." To then get rid of the Carbon Dioxide they will cool it down to -28C and liquefy it. From there they take the liquid 150 miles northwest to be put 3000 meters below the ground. Vattenfall says that" all these processes reduce the overall efficiency of the plant." They also said there main goal was to eventually make a power plant with "absolute zero" pollution. Vattenfall said that they "hope by 2015 that they can get up to a 300-500 megawatt demonstration plant, and up to 1,000-megawatt commercial plants." Vattenfall said the main purpose of the new power plant was to decrease the amount of CO2 in the air and to decrease global warming.







Sited: http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/21397/

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