DARPA Seeks to Expand Real-Time Radiological Threat Detection to Include Other Dangers

Advanced commercially available technologies-such as additive manufacturing (3-D printing), small-scale chemical reactors for pharmaceuticals, and CRISPR gene-manipulation tools-have opened wide access to scientific exploration and discovery.

In the hands of terrorists and rogue nation states, however, these capabilities could be misused to concoct chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high-yield explosive (CBRNE) weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in small quantities and in form factors that are hard to detect.