Smart Trap: Nanosensor tracks major brain chemical

The study of neurological diseases and brain functions could become much more precise with the invention of an optical sensor that can closely monitor a specific chemical amidst the brain’s complex neurochemical brew.

GOTCHA! An incoming molecule of the neurotransmitter glutamate (red) makes the lobes (green) snap shut (right) in this depiction of a nanosensor anchored to the surface of a nerve cell.