"He's Dead, Jim.. You get the Tricorder, I'll grab his wallet."
Posted on 03/04/2007 12:07:14 AM PST by Nachum
Purdue researchers have come up with a handheld device they say can determine the chemical composition of an object or detect trace elements on its surface, sort of like the tricorder that the actors used to whip out on Star Trek.
The chemical analysis tool sprays a fine mist of charged water droplets onto an object. The water droplets cling to particles on the surface of the object. The ionized particles are separated and dried out; the chemicals that remain thus provide a chemical map to the surface of the item tested or the object itself. If there are skin cells or other organic tissue on something, the device will detect it.
The system is really a combination of two existing devices, said R. Graham Cooks, the Henry Bohn Hass Distinguished Professor of Analytical Chemistry in Purdue University's College of Science. The first is a DESI, or desorption electrospray ionization, the component that creates the fine mist. The other is a handheld spectrometer.
Usually, spectrometers are used in more controlled environments, with the sample being tested sitting in a vacuum. Cooks, though, says that the accuracy of the device is not thrown off by using it in the field. Instead, the only issue has been with size. Most lab spectrometers weigh about 300 pounds, while the handheld devices weigh around 20 pounds.
The research team has used the device to analyze clothes, foods and tablets, and to identify cocaine on $50 bills in less than a second. Commercially, the device may be used in the future to detect salmonella in food, biomarkers in urine or explosive residues on suitcases.
Two start-ups--Prosolia in Indianapolis and Griffin Analytical Technologies in West Lafayette, Ind., have been formed to commercialize the device.
I'm just dying here waiting for the Star trek cliches.
They're Dead, Jim...
They were wearing red uniform shirts, right?
"He's Dead, Jim.. You get the Tricorder, I'll grab his wallet."
Shhhhhh !!!
If they hear you, they'll refuse to beam down anymore!!
I think the diagnostic bed will come first.
If they don't they'll have to stay in engineering and hear: "She can't take much more..."
The "tricorder" meme has caused major damage to the science of instrumental chemical analysis. All the funding agencies are dumping money like mad to come up with things that look like tricorders, when the technology base just will NOT support it.
Virtually none of the devices to date actually work, because the extreme miniaturization causes severe real-world problems. I suspect that this gizmo will be the same.
Already here. See "Magnetic Resonance Imaging" (MRI).
Fascinating!
MRI's are only one part of the sick bay
bed capabilities.
:o)
I'm a doctor Jim, not a satirist.
Those little Blue Tooth ear pieces look Star Trek to me.
It's a little hard to call a 20 pound item 'a handheld device', but perhaps it can be miniaturized over the next several years. I'd bet it would be quite valuable in detecting terror suspects.
Just wait until they clone "Tribbles"!
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