Cleaning up after big hurricanes means more than picking up debris and putting roofs back. Very often pollutants like chemicals or sewage have spilt into air or water. As this ScienCentral News video reports, one nanotechnologist says he's made tiny detectors he calls "smart dust" that could signal chemical or biological danger.
Dust-Size Detectors
Most of the devastation brought by major hurricanes is obvious—homes destroyed, cars and boats swept away, livelihoods ruined. But there is also damage that is invisible to the naked eye, such as the toxins—oil, gasoline, sewage—split or scattered into the water and air by a hurricane's heavy winds and waves.
At the Environmental Protection Agency, environmental scientist Barbara Karn oversees funding for nanotechnologists to come up with better, cheaper ways to detect pollution like the kinds a hurricane causes. Karn thinks that nanotechnology could lead to new, less wasteful forms of manufacturing, and could help clean up pollution left behind by today's methods. "We've looked at the possible uses of nanotechnology in preventing pollution in the environment and in fixing up the environment," says Karn. "We're trying to influence the whole nanotech research community to at least look at what they're doing and think about possible applications to the environment. We are looking at sensors and using them for monitoring and better finding out what kinds of pollutants are in the environment."
View video QuickTime| Realmedia
Video Produced by ScienCentral, Inc. Funded in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. ESI0206184
- Download viewers QuickTime | RealPlayer
View video QuickTime | Realmedia 
| RealPlayer 
Poison Protector