Rutgers researchers have designed a new rapid test that can detect all three of the rapidly spreading variants of the coronavirus in a little over one hour – much shorter than the three to five days required by current tests, which can also be more technically difficult and expensive to perform. Details and information on easily creating and running the rapid test – which is not being patented by Rutgers because researchers believe it should be widely available to the public – are published on the pre-print online server MedRxiv and available at no charge. The Rutgers researchers designed and clinically validated the test, which is the first to use “sloppy molecular beacon probes,” which are highly sensitive and specific DNA sequences used to detect frequent mutations in organisms. To read the full story.