Access

Published online 30 October 2003 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news031027-7

News

Nanoparticles may help fight fraud

Magnetic barcodes could provide counterfeit-proof tagging.

Barcodes peppered with magnetic particles millionths of a millimetre across could mark out fake goods and documents.

Russell Cowburn of the University of Durham, UK, presented the new anti-counterfeit technology at a conference on nanotechnology in crime prevention and detection in London this week.

Comments

Reader comments are usually moderated after posting. If you find something offensive or inappropriate, you can speed this process by clicking 'Report this comment' (or, if that doesn't work for you, email redesign@nature.com). For more controversial topics, we reserve the right to moderate before comments are published.