Sensor Almost As Good As A Dog's Nose

[cacoseraph]

New Sensor Is Almost as Sensitive as a Dog's Nose

Aug. 29, 2013 — Scientists at ETH Zurich and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California have developed an innovative sensor for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Thanks to its unique surface properties at nanoscale, the method can be used to perform analyses that are more reliable, sensitive and cost-effective. In experiments with the new sensor, the researchers were able to detect a certain organic species (1,2bis(4-pyridyl)ethylene, or BPE) in a concentration of a few hundred femtomoles per litre. A 100 femtomolar solution contains around 60 million molecules per litre.

http://www.scienceda...30829093311.htm

The applications for human chemical sense analogs are just awesome. Better bomb detection. Less invasive medical tests. I have read it might even be possible to develop a chemical "fingerprint" system to detect who has been at the scene of a crime based purely on the chemcial signature that wafts off of a human body.

also, i found this useful to go over before/while I read the article: Molar concentration wiki: http://en.wikipedia....r_concentration

[brlesq1]

Awesome is right. But I'll never give up my puppykins!