Mercury monitor
Scientists at Northwestern have developed a simple "litmus test" for mercury that eventually could be used for on-the-spot environmental monitoring of bodies of water.
With gold nanoparticles, DNA and some smart chemistry as their tools, scientists at Northwestern have developed a simple "litmus test" for mercury that eventually could be used for on-the-spot environmental monitoring of bodies of water, such as rivers, streams, lakes and oceans, to evaluate their safety as food and drinking water sources.
An article detailing the colorimetric screening technology and its success detecting mercury was published online on April 27 by Angewandte Chemie, the prestigious European journal of applied chemistry.
Methyl mercury, a neurotoxin that is particularly dangerous to young children and pregnant women, is the form of mercury people ingest when they eat contaminated fish and shellfish. Mercury is released into the air through industrial pollution, falling into bodies of water and polluting the waters in which fish and shellfish live. Bacteria in the aquatic environment then convert water-soluble mercuric ion (Hg2+) into methyl mercury, which accumulates in varying amounts in fish and shellfish.
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