Unlike expensive explosive-detecting puffer machines in airports that rely on complicated mass spectrometry or high-performance liquid chromatography equipment, these liquid crystal sensors could be portable, wearable, and inexpensive.
A sensing technique that the U.S. military currently uses to remotely monitor the air to detect potentially life-threatening chemicals, toxins, and pathogens has inspired a new instrument that could “sniff” for life on Mars and other targets in the solar system
"We have made a video of a very fundamental process: for the first time we are not imagining what is happening inside a solar cell, we are actually seeing it" says researcher