With money from the U.S. Department of Defense, University of Arizona researchers built a sensor able to detect tiny amounts of a byproduct of an odorless, tasteless and toxic gas.
Now the U.S. Army has awarded the group another $2.1 million to rebuild their device as one that soldiers could carry.
The team of UA researchers first made a laboratory device able to sense miniscule amounts of chemical weapons in the air, such as of the deadly nerve-gas Sarin.
Associate professor of biomedical engineering and optical sciences, Judith Su, said the new mission to miniaturize is doable now because technology has advanced quickly in recent years.
“You’re going from some optical table that’s about three by five feet and you’re trying to miniaturize it into something about the size of your iPhone,” Su said. “So this next phase is going to focus on making things portable, handheld, something that can work outside of the laboratory and have real-world impact.”
The work is scheduled to take three years.
Su said a sensor made with microtoroid optical resonators had also been used to study biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease and ovarian cancer.
She says a portable version in the future could offer ways to identify mold and air contaminated by illness.
-
Older adults are having sex, and they’re not always using protection. Context is important here: Protection to one generation might mean from pregnancy. They might not consider STIs. And stigma remains a barrier. -
The risk of human-caused wildfire is high due to hot and dry conditions. Certain activities are now restricted within state trust lands in Gila, Maricopa and Pinal counties, as well as the Tonto National Forest. -
Overdose deaths fell in the vast majority of states, although seven saw at least slight increases, including jumps of 10% or more in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico, the preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed. -
Lithium is a key metal for electric vehicle batteries and there is a global push to find new sources of it. There is currently only one lithium mine in operation in the United States, but that is about to change — and drastically. -
A federal hydrologist appeared to be momentarily at a loss for words Thursday as he described how dire the latest forecast has gotten for how much water will flow through the Colorado River Basin this summer.
