Cocaine Biosensor

Aaron Rowe writes "The MIT Technology review reports that a lab at UC Santa Barbara has created a biosensor by attaching a special type of DNA called an aptamer to a gold electrode. When cocaine is present, the aptamer tightly hugs a cocaine molecule and leans over so that a metal tag can touch the gold surface. This causes a spike in a plot of current versus voltage when the electrode is attached to a machine called a cyclic voltmeter."

Comments

Re:Posession of a controlled substance

[Saven Marek]

There was also enough cocaine in a can of coca-cola to get you high if mixed with tylenol. They changed the recipe in the mid 1990s to lower the concentration, but there are still trace amounts in there with it.