DoD Using Plant DNA to Combat Counterfeit Parts

smitty777 writes: Highlighting another unique way to use cutting edge DNA technology, the US Department of Defense has a new weapont to combat counterfiet parts: plant DNA. This article discusses how plant DNA can be used to make an almost (1 in 1 trillion) unique code for parts identification. This nifty graphic shows some of the ways this could be done; bolts with DNA-marked coating, invisible barcodes, and flourescing inks are some of the possible applications. In a similar but unrelated project, World Micro has a different solution to detect counterfeit items in the military that have been "blacktopped", where items have been re-surfaced to allow remarking.