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"it slowly dawned on me that the landscape of science is maybe what interests people a great deal in science fiction."
- Gregory Benford
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| Boink Biosensor | ||
| A hand-held sensor that detects the presence of hazardous biological material. |
Two members of a UN team looking for biological WMDs in late 1990's Iraq need to make a quick determination.
| "I'm gonna do a hand-held Boink, real quick," Littleberry said. From the suitcase, he lifted out an electronic device about the size of a paperback book. It was a palm-sized biosensor. People called it a Boink because it let off a pleasant chiming sound if it detected a biological weapon. The Boink had a screen and some buttons and a sample port - a little hole. The Boink could test for the presence of twenty-five different known biological weapons.
Littleberry took the small tube that contained the truck sample from his pocket. He took out a disposable plastic pipette. It was a little droplet-sucker. He sucked up a droplet of the sample liquid and dropped it straight into the sample port of the Boink. |
| Technovelgy from The Cobra Event,
by Richard Preston. Published by Random House in 1997 Additional resources -
|
In the glossary at the end of the book, Preston refers to the Boink as "a partly real, partly fictional biosensor device that can almost instantly detect approximately twenty-five dangerous infective pathogens."
I think this idea is loosely based on the BioSeeq unit that was available around this same time.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Cobra Event
More Ideas
and Technology by Richard Preston
Tech news articles related to The Cobra Event
Tech news articles related to works by Richard Preston
Boink Biosensor-related
news articles:
- Your Own Handheld Biosensor
| Brain Implant Is Able To Capture Your Inner Dialogue |
| 'Pregnancy Humanoids' From China Replace Moms |
| Bacteria Turns Plastic Into Pain Relief? That Gives Me An Idea. |
| Heart Patches Grown In The Lab Repair Hearts |
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'If you're one of those rarities who haven't attended a rocket-polo "carnage", let me tell you it's a colorful affair.'
'They filed clumsily into the battleroom, like children in a swimming pool for the first time, clinging to the handholds along the side.'
'a walking balloon proceeded with long strides of its aluminum legs...'
'There was nowhere on the planet where science and technology could not provide one with a comfortable home...'
'Most men updated their PIP on New Year's Day...'
'...a misshapen, many-tentacled thing about twice the size of a man.'
