Word: sensor
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...held, Catlin got straight to work on it. The most important tools a pharmaceutical gumshoe has are the mass spectrometer and the gas chromatographer. With the help of this hardware, an unknown substance can be burned at high temperature and the gas that results can be channeled into a sensor, through which the molecules stream in order of size. A readout then lists their weight and concentration. Using this information, the scientists create a blueprint of the chemical as a whole. "At the end of two months," says Catlin, "we were able to draw what we thought...
Heinrich Heine called marriage "the high sea for which no compass has yet been invented." John Gottman figures he has found the compass. At the Gottman Institute in Seattle, a husband and wife sit in sensor-loaded chairs with wires strapped across their chests, taped to their fingertips, clipped to their earlobes. The wires are connected to an array of computerized measuring devices that will track physiological data about them. As the couple discuss a glitch in their marriage, a technician in the next room monitors the data: heart rate, sweaty palms, the speed of blood flow. Another technician watches...
Most electronic noses have sensors that can detect the presence of a suspicious chemical by measuring the disturbance it causes in sound waves across a small quartz crystal. But just like a dog's nose, those electronic sniffers aren't able to determine whether the substance is cocaine or a compound with similarly sized molecules, such as caffeine. Stubbs addressed that problem by coating the sensor with an antibody that was similar in structure to cocaine. As a result, if cocaine were present in a room, it would attach to the antibody molecules and set off an electrical signal. Initial...
Thundat has also shown that his sensor can detect proteins associated with prostate cancer. He and his team are now building arrays to detect markers for other cancers, heart disease and even mutant genes. In his spare time, Thundat is trying to figure out how to make his sensors more robust and discerning than they are, hoping to deploy them as cheap detectors of land mines, which cripple and kill thousands of people every year in war-ravaged nations like Angola. "We have a long way to go," he acknowledges. "Right now my friends tell me they wouldn't walk...
...help track weapons too, and the U.S. Department of Defense just commanded its 43,000 sup-pliers to start using tags like those made by Alien. Worried about gas leaks from the furnace? Give Nanomix a call. The firm, based in Emeryville, Calif., is working on a miniature sensor, sometimes called an electronic nose, that detects hazardous chemicals in the environment. If these three firms were real detectives, Alien and Nanomix would be out on the streets doing surveillance, while Imagen would remain in the lab sorting through visual images for clues. Each of these companies plays its own role...