text: Courtesy | Dan Hixon, University of Utah College of Engineering Ling Zang, a University of Utah professor of materials science and engineering, holds a prototype detector that uses a new type of carbon nanotube material for use in handheld scanners to detect explosives, toxic chemicals and illegal drugs. Zang and colleagues developed the new material, which will make such scanners quicker and more sensitive than todayís standard detection devices. Lingís spinoff company, Vaporsens, plans to produce commercial versions of the new kind of scanner early next year.