Detection

​Ordinarily, when drinking water is being tested for toxic heavy metals, samples have to be sent off to labs. And while there are portable testing systems, they do have some limitations. A new device, however, is claimed to work better – by copying a process that takes place within the human body.

​While there are already electronic devices that detect toxic gases, they can be expensive, and require training to properly use. Soon, though, there could be a cheap and simple alternative – threads woven into washable clothing, that change color when nasty gases are present.

​Although a certain amount of fluoride is added to municipal water supplies to help prevent tooth decay, too much can actually have the opposite effect – particularly on children. A new device could allow officials to detect those overly-high levels, cheaper and easier than ever before.

A team of researchers have revealed an innovative new salvia test that promises to quickly and cheaply screen for the presence of malaria parasites up to a week before any symptoms appear.

The mbira is an African musical instrument that has been around in one form or another for at least 3,000 years. Now, however, scientists have developed a new version that – when combined with a smartphone – can detect toxic substances and possibly even counterfeit medication.

​It's possible that the honey you buy in the supermarket isn't pure – unscrupulous suppliers will often dilute it with cheaper substances such as corn syrup or molasses. An "electronic tongue," however, is claimed to detect such added ingredients faster than ever before.

​If the mosquitoes in a given area start carrying viruses such as Zika or Dengue, then the sooner that local health authorities know, the better. And while existing mosquito-testing procedures take at least week to deliver results, a new biosensor does so in less than an hour.

​Although there already are devices that let you objectively check if you've got bad breath (aka halitosis), they typically require a power source and an involved calibration process, plus they often aren't very sensitive or quick to respond. A newly-developed sensor, however, could change that.

​It's important for us to be able to detect odors such as those emitted by spoiled food. However, what if there were a low-cost "electronic nose" that was better at detecting those things, providing us with an earlier warning? That's what's being developed at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.

​We're getting one step closer to a portable, practical and affordable "cocaine breathalyzer," thanks to research being conducted at the University at Buffalo. Scientists there have created a chip that detects the drug in samples of a person's blood, breath, urine or saliva.

​In the aftermath of a disaster such as an earthquake, it's of the utmost importance to quickly find live victims buried under the rubble. A new device, created by a team led by ETH Zurich's Prof. Sotiris E. Pratsinis, could make doing so cheaper and easier than ever.

In resource-poor developing nations, tuberculosis is typically diagnosed by analyzing a smear of a patient's sputum with a standard microscope – a method that's somewhat problematic. Now, scientists have confirmed that getting rats to sniff the samples is a better way to go.