A NETWORK of cellphones fitted with radiation detectors could monitor cities for "dirty" bombs.
So say Andrew Longman and colleagues at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. They have equipped phones with detectors so small they add only an imperceptible weight to a regular smartphone, and just a few dollars to the cost. Readings from thousands of phones, plus their location, can be combined to produce a "radiation map" of a city, says Longman. "Every cellphone sold should be carrying a detector," he says, to guard against terrorist bombs.
In 2004, cellphones containing sophisticated radiation detectors (New Scientist, 11 December 2004, p 21) were designed. But they were so big and expensive, they could only be carried by police and would not have blanketed a city.
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