If a chemical or biological agent binds to the electrode, it triggers a signal.
The 41-year-old has been charged with possessing a biological agent with intent to use as a weapon.
Biological weapons experts said the biological agent is extremely difficult to turn into a weapon of mass destruction.
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Researchers are developing lightweight, automated sensors that can provide long-range detection and automatic reporting of chemical and biological agent hazards.
James Woolsey, his entire suspected inventory of the biological agent anthrax would fill roughly half a standard semi's tractor trailer.
Experts say the United States is far better able to identify a biological agent that it was just two years ago.
James Everett Dutschke of Tupelo, Mississippi, has been charged with possession and use of a biological agent in connection with that case.
Security experts feared someone might be able to release a biological agent into the air stream that flows into the building, sources said.
"Only a full analysis performed at an accredited laboratory can determine the presence of a biological agent such as ricin, " according to the bureau.
According to an FBI news release, Mr Dutschke was charged with "knowingly developing, producing, stockpiling, transferring, acquiring, retaining and possessing a biological agent, toxin and delivery system, for use as a weapon, to wit: ricin".
Now we find ourselves in the midst of a conflict unlike any we've ever known, faced with the possibility that terrorists could smuggle a deadly biological agent or a nuclear weapon into the middle of one of our own cities.
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Tupelo, Mississippi (CNN) -- A Tupelo, Mississippi, man has been charged with possession and use of a biological agent as a weapon in connection with an investigation into ricin-tainted letters sent to President Barack Obama and others, federal authorities said Saturday.
But our information is, as everybody knows, never complete about a subject like that - never perfect, and the idea that we didn't have, you know specific proof that he was planning to give a biological agent to a terrorist group doesn't really lead you to anything because you wouldn't expect to have that information even if it were true.
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He said the authorities had not yet ruled out the presence of some sort of biological or chemical agent.
Anthrax, which in nature is spread through infected animals and whose spores can live in the soil for years, is considered a potential agent for use in biological warfare.
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