What’s the News: The next generation of bomb detectors may come from an unusual source: bee venom, the stuff that hurts like all get-out when you get stung. A team of researchers at MIT have used fluorescent carbon nanotubes and venom proteins called bombolitins
that bind to single molecules of explosives like TNT to create an exquisitely sensitive detector. How the Heck:
The team already has a lot of experience building detectors from carbon nanotubes. Their method is to coat a naturally fluorescent nanotube with proteins that bind to whatever they’re trying to detect—their previous targets have included nitric oxide, the nerve gas sarin, and hydrogen peroxide. Once the target binds to the proteins on the nanotube, the light the tube emits can either brighten or change wavelengths, depending on how they’ve set up the system.
In this sensor, when molecules of nitroaromatic explosives like TNT bind to the bee ...
