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Purdue Unveils a Tricorder

Posted by kdawson on from the beam-me-up dept.

aeoneal writes "According to Science Daily, mass spectrometry is no longer limited to what can be taken to the lab. Purdue researchers have created a device they liken to a tricorder, a handy 20-lb. device that combines mass spectrometry with DESI (desorption electrospray ionization), allowing chemical composition to be determined outside of a vacuum chamber. Purdue suggests this could be useful for everything from detecting explosive substances or cancer to predicting disease. Researcher R. Graham Cooks says, 'We like to compare it to the tricorder because it is truly a hand-held instrument that yields information about the precise chemical composition of samples in a matter of minutes without harming the samples.'"

4 of 177 comments (clear)

  1. IGEN Tricorder released in 2000 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative
    IGEN (now called Bioveris) is a biotech in MD that licenced the Tricorder (R) name from Paramount for their product. PDF list o products

    and it detects

    • E. coli
    • Salmonella
    • Listeria
    • Cryptosporidium
    • Botulinum Neurotoxin A & B , E & F
    • Staph A
    • Staph B
    • Ricin
    • Anthrax
  2. Re:pussies by rednip · · Score: 3, Informative

    Where'd they get the cocaine? Well, since studies have shown that up to 4 out of 5 circulated bills have traces of cocaine, I'd say that it was fairly easy. However, before you try to smoke your $50s, the amount per bill is very small (16 micrograms).
    --
    The force that blew the Big Bang continues to accelerate.
  3. Re:Anyone know anything about these? by sokoban · · Score: 3, Informative

    A mass spectrometer needs to be a certain size since it ionizes a molecule to break it into smaller pieces and then passes them through a magnetic field. The charge (of the ion fragments) interacts with the magnetic field to cause the path of the fragment to bend. The radius of the curvature of the deflection is correlated to the mass/charge ratio, thus the mass spectrometer will tell how massive the fragments are. By knowing the mass of the fragments, the formula and structure of the compound can be elucidated by using a few tricks based on the isotopic abundance of elements in the earth.

    Wikipedia has a pretty good article and diagram.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_spectrometry

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    09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 is the magic number.
  4. Actually, this is not the first... by Flailmonkey · · Score: 3, Informative

    While it is a new design, and has different features, this is in fact not the first tricorder that has been made.

    http://www.stim.com/Stim-x/0996September/Sparky/tr icorder.html talks about the very first "tricorder," but it doesn't look like it was very successful. Maybe Purdue's device will stick around longer.

    By the way, something that is very interesting to note is that Gene Roddenberry allows anyone who creates devices like the ones in Star Trek (and presumably its variations) can use the names used in the show. Get to work all you Trekkie engineers!