A strip of glass covered in hairy nanoparticles can cheaply
and conveniently measure mercury, which attacks the nervous system, and other
toxic metals in fluids.
Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
(EPFL), Northwestern University and the University of Michigan found that their
new method can measure methyl mercury, the most common form of mercury
pollution, at unprecedentedly small concentrations. The system, which could
test for metal toxins in drinking water and fish, is reported in the current
edition of Nature Materials.