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Tech

The Wayback Machine

One-of-a-kind machine allows researchers to expose the past of samples by analyzing their atomic makeup.

April 30, 2011 •

One of the most advanced isotopic microbeam technologies in the geosciences now exists right here at the U of A. The Cameca IMS-1280 ion probe - the only one of its kind in Canada - is the centrepiece of the University's new Canadian Centre for Isotopic Microanalysis, a place where the past can be isolated, revealed, studied and analyzed. This multi-million dollar time machine can, for instance, analyze animal teeth, bones or rock and, by burrowing down to the sample's atomic makeup, expose its past.

"The probe can capture a moment in time, possibly millions or billions of years ago when the molecular structure of a mineral was being formed," says Thomas Stachel, researcher and director of the Centre, housed in the subterranean analytical facility at the new Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Science.

Biologists, for instance, can use the probe to learn a lot from an animal's tooth. Rather than grinding up a polar bear's tooth and analyzing its molecular content in bulk, a tiny slice of the tooth is put into the new probe and, much like the process of analyzing tree rings, says Stachel, "we can look at every single year in the life of that polar bear and analyze what it ate, where it lived, and extrapolate the environmental conditions it experienced."

With a resolution level of 10 microns, about one-tenth the width of a human hair, the ion probe will benefit the natural resources industry. The probe will be invaluable in capturing new information about mineral and fossil fuel formations, which will aid in extraction and development. "Mineral revenue from the north is 98 or 99 percent diamonds," says Stachel. "And keeping the costs and efficiency of exploration down is essential for keeping that Canadian industry alive."

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