Enlarge Image Shaky sensor. A cantilever (c) covered with bacteria (b) shakes up and down as the bacteria metabolize on its surface, and the vibrations are detected by a laser beam. Credit: (left) Sandor Kasas; (right) Sandor Kasas and Giovanni Longo A patient admitted to a hospital with a serious bacterial infection may have only a few hours to live. Figuring out which antibiotic to administer, however, can take days. Doctors must grow the microbes in the presence of the drugs and see whether they reproduce. Rush the process, and they risk prescribing ineffective antibiotics, exposing the patient to...