MobileMagazine is reporting that scientists in the UK have developed a “molecule-based” ID tag–I guess technically any ID tag would be molecule-based, but I think they mean molecule-sized. Anyway, these new tags are created through a process dubbed molecular computation identification (MCID), a process that coerces molecules to produce light using a mixture of chemical. These light emissions can then apparently be read for identification purposes.

Due to its size, an MCID can be used to for a variety of medical applications, such as monitoring the progression of a disease through one’s body. They hypothesize that MCID could take the place of RFID, but it seems to me that the potential uses are pretty different.

Scientists announce molecule-based ID tags [MobileMag]