N.C. state grad invents app to measure radiation.

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It all clicked for Mark Delgado. who graduated this past spring from N.C. State University in Raleigh. N.C. with a degree in nuclear engineering. He was looking for a way to build a printer-scanner system that watermarked high-value items with radioactive ink to prevent counterfeiting. Through his research, he discovered radiation-detection technology hadn't changed much since the 1960s. So he turned his dorm room into a laboratory. and using what he calls scraps and trash, including an old smoke detector, he built a Geiger counter that uses an app downloaded to a tablet or smartphone to determine radiation levels.

Delgado, 24, says it can be used as a survey instrument, mobile enough to detect high levels of radiation while on the move, or it can be parked, standing on guard and ready .to send an alert when levels rise. "Not only...