--- title: A baseball-sized sensor can detect chemical threats description: MIT Lincoln Laboratory has developed TOSSIT (Tactical Optical Spherical Sensor for Interrogating Threats), a baseball-sized throwable sensor that detects... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/a-baseball-sized-sensor-can-detect-chemical-threats-tmb7gmhbo twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: A baseball-sized sensor can detect chemical threats | daily.dev og:description: MIT Lincoln Laboratory has developed TOSSIT (Tactical Optical Spherical Sensor for Interrogating Threats), a baseball-sized throwable sensor that detects... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/a-baseball-sized-sensor-can-detect-chemical-threats-tmb7gmhbo og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/tmb7GMHBo.png og:image:alt: A baseball-sized sensor can detect chemical threats og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # A baseball-sized sensor can detect chemical threats **[MIT News](https://daily.dev/sources/mit)** · 1 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary MIT Lincoln Laboratory has developed TOSSIT (Tactical Optical Spherical Sensor for Interrogating Threats), a baseball-sized throwable sensor that detects hazardous chemical vapors and aerosols. It can be tossed, drone-dropped, or launched into an area of concern, where it samples air and uses an internal camera to observe color changes on a dye card. If threats like nerve agents, blister agents, or fentanyl dust are detected, it alerts users via an app or onboard alarms. The technology is being transferred to the U.S. military after field testing. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [MIT researcher proposes a way to detect nuclear weapons in space](https://daily.dev/posts/mit-researcher-proposes-a-way-to-detect-nuclear-weapons-in-space-raaghrtwa) · MIT News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Quantum Sensor Sniffs Out Radio Signals in 3D](https://daily.dev/posts/quantum-sensor-sniffs-out-radio-signals-in-3d-bf0hmthmr) · IEEE Spectrum · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Taking your temperature from the inside](https://daily.dev/posts/taking-your-temperature-from-the-inside-lmr0nhrh1) · MIT Technology Review · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Tiny infrared chip could improve detection of gases and heat](https://daily.dev/posts/tiny-infrared-chip-could-improve-detection-of-gases-and-heat-wddq9ax8s) · MIT News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Electronic Nose Sniffs Out Mold](https://daily.dev/posts/electronic-nose-sniffs-out-mold-nm5saosow) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#mit](https://daily.dev/tags/mit) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/a-baseball-sized-sensor-can-detect-chemical-threats-tmb7gmhbo) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"A baseball-sized sensor can detect chemical threats","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-baseball-sized-sensor-can-detect-chemical-threats-tmb7gmhbo","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-baseball-sized-sensor-can-detect-chemical-threats-tmb7gmhbo"},"datePublished":"2026-07-09T16:16:56.401Z","dateModified":"2026-07-09T16:45:31.782Z","description":"MIT Lincoln Laboratory has developed TOSSIT (Tactical Optical Spherical Sensor for Interrogating Threats), a baseball-sized throwable sensor that detects...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/c5482cbda429be0d402319c329461860?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/c5482cbda429be0d402319c329461860?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"MIT News","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"MIT News","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/881e20a40aa44b12ba4bd27f5c14289d","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/mit"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/a-baseball-sized-sensor-can-detect-chemical-threats-tmb7gmhbo","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"mit","timeRequired":"PT1M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MIT News","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/mit"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"A baseball-sized sensor can detect chemical threats"}]} ```