Physicists at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California are developing new technology that will give Apple iPhones and other next-generation mobile phones the ability to “smell” different chemicals.
It is a stamp-sized device capable of measuring concentrations of methane, ammonia, chlorine, and other compounds in the atmosphere . Equipped with 64 nanosensors integrated in a silicon chip, the gadget will allow to know instantly the levels of air pollution in any corner of the world, and send them to a central computer that processes the data. A promising little ally for environmental monitoring.
