Chemical attacks are nasty and every second matters when you are exposed to a chemical agent such as nerve gas. A new $4 million project at the University of North Carolina is looking at a way to safeguard soldiers and civilians against chemical weapons, by providing an antidote patch that can be easily carried around and quickly applied in the event of an attack. The patch would contain hundreds of microneedles that would deliver an antidote directly to the victim, protecting them from some of the worst effects of a chemical weapon The researchers are hoping that they will be able to come up with a one-patch-treats-all antidote that is able to combat lots of different weapons, using a bio-scavenger that would find and destroy the damaging chemicals before they could do any harm. It might not allow you to stride through a cloud of nerve gas unprotected, but it could well be the difference between making it to safety or dying in the field.
