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CSI-Style Sleuths Investigate Illicit Nuclear Trafficking

Posted May 2nd, 2008 by Stefan Lovgren
While customs officers and cops catch a few grams of nuclear material here and there, it falls to scientists to do the CSI part of the program, says Klaus Lutzenkirchen, a nuclear chemist at the Institute for Transuranium Elements, a laboratory run by the European Commission and based in Germany.

Between 1993 and 1997 there were 1,340 confirmed incidents of illicit trafficking in nuclear material around the world. Much of this material can be traced to the former Soviet Union.

Nanotech Breakthrough: Liquid Semiconductors Harness Infrared Light

Posted March 17th, 2007 by Stefan Lovgren
Scientists at the University of Toronto have developed a simple, low-cost way of making light-sensitive semiconductors, which could have great significance for military and biological applications.

Ted Sargent : Sargent Group

Sargent Group
Ted Sargent

Scientists at the University of Toronto have developed a simple, low-cost way of making light-sensitive semiconductors, which could have great significance for military and biological applications.

The researchers created the semiconductor device by simply painting a liquid containing semiconductor particles on to glass. The liquid was oleic acid, the main constituent of olive oil.

The resulting film was 10 times more sensitive to infrared light -- light beyond the red region of the visible spectrum -- than conventional semiconductor sensors, which are created by the expensive technique of growing crystals at high temperatures.