using your cd-rom to test for anthrax

According to Modulus' link to the primary literature, RiverRat's description is pretty darn good.The group used standard blank CD-Rs, and analyzed them in a standard CD-ROM drive in a PC laptop running Windows.As long as the contamination issue is properly dealt with, this seems like a great, portable, cheap, and easily accessible system for on-site analysis. All someone would really need is the CD covers and analysis software, (and perhaps protective gear depending on the type of sample they were analyzing). Everything else can be bought at the mall.Interesting find, RiverRat.

Actually, Crash, you had the description correct when you said: The substance placed on the CD surface scatters the reflected light in a reproducible way depending on the substance, and the interference is detectable by a standard CD-ROM drive in a standard PC laptop. Read the primary paper Modulous linked.Do people simply refuse to believe this because RiverRat brought it up?

The substance being analyzed scatters the reflected light. Not transmitted light.Again, I suggest you read the primary article. RiverRat may have been a bit off in the details of the technique, but I think he did pretty well considering he was remembering something he saw on a popular science show a week ago that he half-watched while playing with a kid.