Nadia Drake, reporting for Wired Science:
An ancient Roman cup that changes color in different lighting is the inspiration for a new nanoplasmonic biosensor. The tiny sensor changes color when target molecules bind to it, thanks to the optical properties of the materials it’s made from.
Researchers arrayed a billion tiny cups, each a millionth the size of the Roman original, to create the device, which they say could offer a low-cost alternative to conventional biotechnologies used to study DNA, proteins, and other chemicals.