Sensor

A novel type of biosensor could help negate the risks of highly toxic arsenic as it makes its way from soil and into plants, by working with the plant tissues to monitor levels of the element in the underground environment in real time.

No matter how good we humans have made something, chances are nature did it better. Rather than compete, scientists have now tapped into a natural sensor with the Smellicopter, a drone that uses an antenna from a live moth to sniff out its targets.

Scientists have fashioned graphene into microscopic balloons they say can distinguish between different kinds of noble gases, by measuring how long the gas takes to escape through tiny perforations in the surface of the balloons.

Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a tiny new sensor that can be carried around on a small drone or even the back of an insect – and then dropped on demand to track the environment for years at a time.

Scientists have developed what they claim is the smallest particle sensor in the world, designed specifically to detect harmful pollutants and offer a highly localized picture of air quality by being integrated into wearables and mobile devices.

To create a great smartphone camera, first you need a great mobile camera sensor, and Samsung just unveiled a new 50-megapixel, 1/1.31-inch Isocell GN1 sensor – a component that should find its way into future Samsung phones before too long.

Scientists at Purdue University are putting forward another interesting proposition in the realm of home automation, developing a cheap sensor that can detect when a person enters a room via carbon dioxide levels in the air.

OmniVision has announced that its OV6948 unit has been declared the world's smallest commercially available image sensor by Guinness World Records. And the company has now squeezed it into a new camera module.

Given that the WHO estimates that seven million premature deaths annually around the world are caused by air pollution, monitoring air quality is vital. Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have developed an optical nano-sensor that can be mounted to most streetlamps.

Spider-Man's "spidey-sense" isn't purely fiction – spiders have tiny, sensitive hairs on their legs that help them avoid predators or hunt prey. And now, engineers at Purdue University have developed similar sensors for autonomous cars or drones.

In what promises to be a big step forward in 3D vision systems for autonomous vehicles, Velodyne has announced a new 128-channel LiDAR sensor that boasts the longest range and highest-resolution on the market.

It could only have come from Japan. From the country that gave the world smart toilets comes a device that saves users from being socially ostracized by telling them whether or not they smell.