Revolutionary Hand Held Pocket-Size Ultra Sound Scanner

In a wide-ranging interview at the Web 2.0 Summit, Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric, announced a low-cost and very portable ultrasound scanner called the Vscan.

"It's about the same size as a BlackBerry," Immelt said, holding up a white device that appeared to fold in the middle like a flip-phone. The top of the device showed an ultrasound image (of a patient's liver, we were told), while the bottom showed control keys.

"This is Moore's law," he said, saying that the device had the same power as a console ultrasound from two to three years ago that would cost $250,000.

The price of the device was not revealed, but Immelt asked the audience to imagine these devices going to Africa and helping health care providers there determine "if a baby is breech," for example. "This could be the stethoscope of the 21st century," he said

African tree acts as 'fertilizer factory' for crops

A unique African tree could dramatically improve the yield of crops planted under its canopy by providing natural, renewable fertilizer, says a new study.

The tree has the potential to aid farmers throughout Africa, South America, and much of south and Southeast Asia, according to the researchers.

"Soil fertility is one of the major constraints to food production in sub-Saharan Africa, and nitrogen is one of the most limiting elements," said Lou Verchot of the Center for International Forestry Research in Bogor, Indonesia, who was not a part of the new study.