WIRED Staff
Science

Slideshow: Mine Buster Targets Breast Cancer

A subsurface sleuth translates algorithms designed to detect land mines into a formula for finding tumors' tiniest beginnings. By Tracy Powell.
Image may contain Human Person Face and Home Decor
Magda El-Shenawee (right), associate professor of electrical engineering at the University of Nebraska, and Fred Barlow, University of Arkansas professor, are collaborating to build a microwave imaging system to detect early stage breast cancer.Photo: Courtesy of the University of Arkansas

See related story: Mine Buster Targets Breast Cancer

Image may contain Machine Human and Person

A robotic land-mine detector is one device used to find anti-tank mines. The United Nations estimates the approximately 100 million known land mines would cost $33 billion and about 1,100 years to clear using current technology. Magda El-Shenawee has developed an extremely fast technique using algorithms that reveals explosive devices buried in ocean mud.

Photo: AP/Lennox McLendon