More than 20 houses were evacuated in the street as army bomb experts made the device safe and checked the area for other devices during a three-hour operation.

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The device fits into a checked bag and reports city location in real time to any mobile, Apple, Android, or SMS capable devices.

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"We treated a slice of bread in the device, we then checked the mould that was in that bread over time against a control, " he explained.

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Once the device is registered on the Trakdot website and placed inside a checked bag, it will deliver location information directly to the user's mobile phone or SMS device via text or email.

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When the results were double-checked with a laboratory light microscope, the device had managed to pick up 70% of the samples with infections present - and 90% of the heavier infections.

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Sources close to the investigation tell Forbes that Transocean engineers had last checked the blowout preventer 10 days before the rig explosion, and that BP believes the device suffered a leak of hydraulic pressure, preventing it from being able to shut the well.

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Some fuel cells can charge a device roughly 12 times before needing a replacement cartridge of butane (which the US government permits in checked luggage on airplanes).

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