my old friend and co-author of the astrobiology book, Kevin Plaxco is doing some brilliant work creating user-friendly, high performance sensors based on DNA aptamers that fold around the target substance.

I've written a short feature about this, which has just come out in Chemistry World. If your institution subscribes to this magazine, you can also read the story online here:

http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/restricted/2006/July/ChemicalOrigami.asp