Smell-sensitive technology

UK researchers have successfully developed a system capable of rapidly detecting chemicals in small quantities, whether it be contaminants, explosives or drugs.

The technology could identify a single molecule of 10,000 trillion molecules of water within a few milliseconds, by 'grabbing' it on a nanoparticle, according to a report in Nature Materials. .

Experts from the University College London say that devices using the technology can detect the presence of dangerous drugs, explosives, pollutants in rivers or gas. Neurological poisoning is deliberately discharged into the air.

Such a device can be a powerful aid to the police or criminal investigators, allowing for the faint trail of traces that the perpetrator has left on the scene.

The new technology is based on the fact that all of the particles diffuse light in different ways, and that signal can be amplified by capturing molecules on a metal nanoparticle, in a field. This is gold.