"SENSORS: tiny magnetometer ups sensitivity at NIST"

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has developed a chip-scale atomic magnetometer, the size of a grain of rice, that can sense magnetic fields as weak as 50 picoteslas, or a million times weaker than Earth's magnetic field. Said to be far more sensitive and accurate for its size than existing designs, the tiny instrument could find use in handhelds that would sense unexploded ordnance, perform precise navigation or create geophysical maps (for locating minerals or oil). It could also enable medical instruments to be downsized. NIST's Peter Schwindt, architect of the mini magnetometer, called it "sensitive enough to detect a concealed rifle at 12 meters or a 6-inch-diameter steel pipeline as much as 35 meters underground."
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