PROTOTYPE
Sensitive Dust

Checking the dust on a door sill is an age-old way to see how clean a house is. Now researchers from the University of California, San Diego, are using specially engineered "dust" to see how clean the environment is. Chemistry professor Michael Sailor and graduate student Jamie Link have engineered small, glittery grains of silicon, about 100 micrometers on a side, that change color when they come into contact with organic pollutants in the air or water. Each particle is riddled with tiny pores that are coated with compounds that attract pollutants. As pollutants are drawn into the pores, the reflective properties of the particle change, producing a color shift that can be detected with a handheld reader up to 30 meters away. The researchers, who've licensed the technology to an undisclosed company, are working on particles tuned to a host of specific pollutants, so a user could simply toss out a handful of the dust to see immediately what, if anything, had poisoned the air.

MOBILE COMPUTING
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