Scientists invent real-life 'tricorder'

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Feb. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have created a handheld sensing system they liken to Star Trek's "tricorder," used to analyze the chemical compounds of alien worlds.

But Purdue University researchers say their system could have more reality-based applications, such as testing foods for dangerous bacterial contaminants and urine for biomarkers that might provide an early disease warning.

The instrument is a miniature mass spectrometer combined with a technique called desorption electrospray ionization, or DESI. The device and technique were developed by a team of researchers led by Purdue Professor R. Graham Cooks.

"Conventional mass spectrometers analyze samples that are specially prepared and placed in a vacuum chamber," Cooks said. "The key DESI innovation is performing the ionization step in the air or directly on surfaces outside of the mass spectrometer's vacuum chamber.

"We like to compare it to the tricorder because it is truly a handheld instrument that yields information about the precise chemical composition of samples in a matter of minutes without harming the samples."

The research team has used the device to identify cocaine on a $50 bill in less than 1 second.