Narrator: This is Science Today. A new, lightweight and inexpensive carbon monoxide sensor has been developed by scientists at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Field-testing found these small sensors are more accurate than the personal monitors currently on the market. Michael Apte, a scientist in the Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division says before, there was no affordable way to accurately measure carbon monoxide in the field.

Apte: This device actually gives you numbers for carbon monoxide exposure. Something you could wear on your body or you could place it in a space and it will give you an average concentration over the period of time that you have it on for - typically eight hours. So it's good for measuring worker's exposure to carbon monoxide.

Narrator: It can also be placed in a residential setting to gather average exposure rates in a home over a one-week period.

Apte: Carbon monoxide is very toxic. There are about nineteen thousand poisonings every year and it makes it the number one cause of poisoning in the United States.

Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.