Global Security Newswire

Researchers in Missouri, with financial support from the U.S. Army, are working to develop sensors with the ability to detect biological weapons agents, OzarksFirst.com reported yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 6, 2009).

In a contract worth approximately $500,000, scientists at the Jordan Valley Innovation Center in Springfield have been developing detection equipment to to identify dangerous materials such as anthrax, ricin and E. coli. The project has been ongoing for the past five years.

"Everyone is very afraid that the next terrorist attack will be a biological weapon or chemical weapons," according to innovation center executive director Ryan Giedd.

"If we are unprepared and someone does an attack like this, the results could be catastrophic," he said.

Scientists are developing more than 100,000 wafer-sized detectors, said researcher Rishi Patel (Jennifer Denman, OzarksFirst.com, Feb. 24).