Four-legged, dog-like robot ‘sniffs’ hazardous gases in inaccessible environments

Portable mass spectrometry for on-site detection of hazardous volatile organic compounds via robotic extractive sampling

12-Jun-2024 - Nightmare material or truly man’s best friend? A team of researchers equipped a dog-like quadruped robot with a mechanized arm that takes air samples from potentially treacherous situations, such as an abandoned building or fire. The robot dog walks samples to a person who screens them for ...

Process for the optical analysis of trace gases optimised

Prof. Gernot Friedrichs from Kiel University has developed a new approach for making interfering signals in laser absorption spectroscopy invisible

11-Jan-2024 - Laser-based absorption spectroscopy is an important method for determining the concentration of gas components in a sample. Modern devices are highly specialised for detecting very specific gases, such as trace gases in the atmosphere, in combustion exhaust fumes and in technical applications of ...

A single instrument determines a total of ten greenhouse gases and air pollutants simultaneously and with high precision

"Innosuisse Certificate" for Empa Spin-off: Ready for sustainable growth

12-Dec-2022 - Founded in February 2018 as an Empa spin-off, the start-up company "MIRO Analytical" received one of the coveted "Innosuisse Certificates" in October. The certificate reflects the remarkable progress the young company made during the funding agency's coaching program and confirms that the ...

Pumping up the music of molecules

Significantly improving the "sense of smell" of molecular laser spectroscopy: Increases chances to reliably detect diseases

25-Aug-2022 - Sensitive animal noses can sniff out trace particles, such as volatile organic compounds, in the ambient air. Humans, on the other hand, are developing innovative technologies for this purpose, such as optical spectroscopy. This uses laser light to detect the molecular composition of gases. It ...

New label-free detection technique digitally counts intact SARS-CoV-2 virus particles in saliva or exhaled breath

25-Jan-2022 - As health and research institutions continue to rapidly develop new methodologies for detecting SARS-CoV-2, researchers from the Holonyak Micro & Nanotechnology Laboratory have found themselves at both forefronts of discovery and featured on the cover of the Journal of the American Chemical ...

Endress+Hauser bundles analysis expertise

Subsidiaries SpectraSensors and Kaiser Optical Systems merge into Endress+Hauser Optical Analysis

11-Jan-2022 - Effective 1 January 2022, the Endress+Hauser subsidiaries SpectraSensors, Inc. and Kaiser Optical Systems, Inc. have joined forces to form a new company: Endress+Hauser Optical Analysis, Inc. By consolidating its expertise in the field of laser-based measurement technology, the Group is ...

Antibiotic levels measurable in breath for first time

Researchers are testing a biosensor for personalized dosing of medications

23-Sep-2021 - A team of engineers and biotechnologists at the University of Freiburg has for the first time shown in mammals that the concentration of antibiotics in the body can be determined using breath samples. The breath measurements also corresponded to the antibiotic concentrations in the blood. The ...

Detection of cancer from exhaled breath

Breath gas analysis for medical diagnostics

03-Dec-2020 - The air we exhale contains information that can assist with the diagnosis of disease. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Project Hub for Microelectronic and Optical Systems for Biomedicine MEOS are now developing solutions designed to enable the analysis of breath gas for this purpose. Although their ...

Measuring ethanol’s deadly twin

18-Sep-2019 - ETH researchers have developed an inexpensive, handheld measuring device that can distinguish between methanol and potable alcohol. It offers a simple, quick method of detecting adulterated or contaminated alcoholic beverages and is able to diagnose methanol poisoning in exhaled breath. Methanol ...

Innovative sensing technique could improve greenhouse gas analysis

Innovative sensing technique could improve greenhouse gas analysis

12-Oct-2018 - An international team of researchers has used an unconventional imaging technique known as ghost imaging to make spectroscopic measurements of a gas molecule. The new approach by scientists at Tampere University of Technology in Finland, the University of Eastern Finland and the University of ...