A team of three researchers are developing new sensors that take advantage of the sensory capabilities of biological cells. The tiny sensors, only a few millimeters in size, could speed up and improve the detection of everything from explosive materials to biological pathogens to spoiled food or impure water. The researchers plan to use other specialized cells much like a canary in a coal mine. The cells would show stress or die when exposed to certain pathogens, and the sensing circuits monitoring them would trigger a warning, more quickly and accurately than in present systems.

Photo by Jef Poskanzer