Three-in-one sensor detects multiple chemical warfare agents

A new sensor can detect three different chemical warfare agents simultaneously, revealing the presence of sarin, cyanide and sulfur mustard via a smartphone app .

There are five main types of chemical warfare agents: blister, nerve, blood, choking and incapacitating. Sulfur mustard – or mustard gas – is a blister agent that has been used with devastating effect. Sarin and cyanide are nerve and blood agents, respectively, and these agents are described as the only type of lethal agents capable of causing mass casualties, even at low concentrations. The use of such chemicals in warfare is prohibited under the Chemical Weapons Convention, which every country on Earth – with the exception of five – has ratified.