Bulldogcakes
04-13-2006, 02:28 PM
<p><a href="http://www.livescience.com/technology/060413_cocaine_a_lyzer.html" target="_self" title="story">Story </a></p><p>
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<span class="style1">A DNA molecule that stiffens and folds when it
encounters cocaine is the engine that drives a new handheld,
fast-acting drug detector. </span>
<p class="style2">Reliable tests for cocaine take several hours at a
laboratory. And although police and customs agents have field tests for
cocaine, criminals often use masking chemicals to thwart these
so-called "Scott tests." In a Scott test, a chemical changes color when
it is added to substances that contain cocaine.</p>
<p class="style2">The new detector—scientists have built a rudimentary
prototype—sees through the masking agents and can also sense cocaine in
body fluids or materials that it comes in contact with. Detecting tiny
traces of cocaine in blood or salvia could someday allow the device to
work much like a breathalyzer for alcohol, said biochemist Kevin Plaxco
of the University of California, Santa Barbara.</p></font></font> </p><p> </p>
<font size="2" face="arial">
<a name="beginstory"></a>
<br />
<font face="arial">
<span class="style1">A DNA molecule that stiffens and folds when it
encounters cocaine is the engine that drives a new handheld,
fast-acting drug detector. </span>
<p class="style2">Reliable tests for cocaine take several hours at a
laboratory. And although police and customs agents have field tests for
cocaine, criminals often use masking chemicals to thwart these
so-called "Scott tests." In a Scott test, a chemical changes color when
it is added to substances that contain cocaine.</p>
<p class="style2">The new detector—scientists have built a rudimentary
prototype—sees through the masking agents and can also sense cocaine in
body fluids or materials that it comes in contact with. Detecting tiny
traces of cocaine in blood or salvia could someday allow the device to
work much like a breathalyzer for alcohol, said biochemist Kevin Plaxco
of the University of California, Santa Barbara.</p></font></font> </p><p> </p>