Nanotechnology: A Gentle Introduction to the Next Big Idea

Natural Nanoscale Sensors

As is true with so much of the rest of nanoscience and nanotechnology, examples of sensors at the nanoscale are very widespread in biology. Sensors are crucial to communications, and communication with other organisms is one of the central characteristics of life. Signals come in a variety of formats including molecules, sound, smell, and touch, and they also can come in electromagnetic forms such as heat and light. The ability to detect these signals is both desirable, as in a fragrant perfume, and necessary, as in the detection of mercaptans, which are the nasty-smelling sulfur-containing substances that are added to the natural gas piped into houses.

The exquisite nanosensors in the nasal bulb of some animals, particularly ...