• Carbon Dating of Cave Art - Mass Spectrometry dates prehistoric cave paintings in southern France...


• On the Nose - MS shows mice prefer to mate with partners that express different MHC genes...


• Special Delivery - A mass spectrometer is delivered to the international space station...


• Molecular Hitchhiking on a Comet - Mass spectrometry shows molecules can survive an impact with Earth...


• Mass Spectrometry Unearths Mexico's Maize - Accelerator MS provides evidence of early agriculture in Mexico...


• Mass of the Universe -Scientists may finally have a reliable estimate of the mass of the universe...


• Airport Security - Ion mobility mass spectrometry to detect narcotics at airports...


• MS at the Olympics - Mass spectrometry keeps the athletes honest...


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Mass Spectrometers Protect Soldiers in Iraq


Mass spectrometers act as sensitive chemical warfare detectors to protect troops in war on Iraq.

With troops from the US, UK and Australia now deployed in Iraq, the soldiers are grateful for the powerful chemical warfare detection equipment being used in Iraq. The $US20,000 portable GC-mass spectrometers can detect the faintest trace of chemical agents used as weapons in the environment and are being used ahead of troop movements to provide protection.

The possibility of chemical attack scares most soldiers. "No military in the world is as well trained or equipped as we are to deal with a chemical or biological attack," says Lt. David Chasteen of the US Marines and soldiers have been ordered to remain in chemical suits for the duration of the fighting.

In the event of a chemical attack all of the troops' personal belongings, anything that is exposed to chemical agents, will be incinerated by decontamination units. Major Paul Dunn, of Provo, an air defense officer, is a former teacher at Brigham Young University and father of five. He emphasized the threat of chemical attack dampens any sense of optimism. "We'll be attacking them in their own back yard and chances are very good that they will use chemical weapons at some point," Dunn said.

The Iraqi military is so technologically inferior that Dunn said he is not that worried about its conventional weapons. However, he said, "it takes only a single officer to fire off one round of a chemical or binary agent and you can have massive casualties."

 

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