RE: Labskin contract to develop revolutionary new approach to testing for radiation exposure4 Oct 2022 11:05
Some more info on TEI-REX.
Can see all military personnel carrying swabs eventually as part of their kit. Could be the start of something huge!
https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/30/iarpa_radiation_monitoring_research/
TEI-REX wants to look at those markers, which IARPA said are long-lasting and can be directly attributed to the initial dose of radiation. The program is looking to establish measurement models and methodologies that can measure accurate low-dose ionizing exposure within 25 days, and beyond 90 days, which it said will help it build a new understanding of the effects of low-dose radiation "through advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning, biomarker discovery, and analytical biology."
IARPA said [PDF] there are several applications for the technology, such as investigating radiation poisoning cases similar to Alexander Litvinenko's, which took 22 days to confirm.
Other uses include better radiation exposure measurements for military personnel, who often aren't carrying dosimetry badges; detecting and tracking down radiation sources and nuclear contamination out in the field; and testing in remote locations – such as space – where astronauts are exposed to much more radioactivity than those of us on Earth.