(Purdue University: West Lafayette, IN) -- A new technology enabling tiny machines called micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) to self-calibrate could make possible super-accurate and precise sensors for crime-scene forensics, environmental testing, and medical diagnostics.

The innovation might enable researchers to create a “nose on a chip” for tracking criminal suspects, design sensors that identify hazardous solid or gaseous substances, as well as develop a new class of laboratory tools for specialists working in nanotechnology and biotechnology.

“In the everyday macroscopic world, we can accurately measure distance and mass because we have well-known standards such as rulers or weights that we use to calibrate devices that measure distances or forces,” says Jason Vaughn Clark, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and mechanical engineering at Purdue University. “But for the micro or nanoscopic worlds, there have been no standards and no practical ways for measuring very small distances or forces.”

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