“The Whispering Gallery-Mode biosensor (see images)—so called after the Whispering Gallery in London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral—is able to detect the smallest virus particle known (MS2 RNA, which has 1% the mass of an influenza viron).  According to its developers at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University: “The basic technology underpinning the sensor is thus: Light from a tunable laser is guided down a fiber-optic cable, and its intensity is measured by a detector at the distal end. A small glass sphere is contacted with the fiber, and this diverts the path of the light and causes it to orbit within the sphere. This change is recorded as a resonant dip in transmission through the fiber.”  Presumably, this opens new possibilities for point-of-care devices.   MORE