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Delivering bioweapons such as anthrax and smallpox is horribly easy, warns aerospace giant Lockheed Martin: all you need is a crop duster, a garden sprayer or even a perfume atomiser.

So the company has patented a national network of detectors that can spot pathogens in the air (WO 03/82425). By sharing their results, the sensors could monitor hot spots and track the progress of any contamination as it spreads.

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