This new pistol (also comes in rifle form) from UK company SelectaDNA reminds me of a NERF toy. It’s a serious tool, however, and is designed to help law enforcement ID criminals.
Instead of foam darts, it fires non-lethal DNA marker pellet ammunition to tag people for later identification. The DNA marker is much more specific than currently-used color markers.
This is a great example of using DNA molecules to store vast quantities of information – in this case, an identifier sequence so extensive there’s practically no room for inaccuracy in eventual identification. It’d be pretty hard to explain away how that particular DNA came to be on your person.
