NOVELTY - A system (100) for detecting and identifying gases, comprises a piezoresistive microcantilever transducer, where dissipation of heat from the piezoresistive microcantilever into gases is measured by changes in an electrical resistance of the piezoresistor; a vibrating microcantilever transducer, where shifts are measured in resonant frequency of the vibrating microcantilever due to viscous damping by the gases; and subsystem for correlating the measured resistance changes and the resonant frequency shifts to the gases.    USE - As system for detecting and identifying gases, used for gas sensing applications such as detection of combustible gases (e.g. methane, ethane, butane) below the lower explosive limit in certain confined areas, such as coal mines, enclosed landfill sites, conveyances for flight and underwater travel (e.g. airplanes, space shuttles, submarines), structures having confined areas (e.g. hospitals, factories), the petrochemical industry (oil rig platforms). Other applications include environmental monitoring of air pollutants such as carbon dioxide, nitric oxide, sulfur dioxide; applications include distributed sensors related to hydrogen fuel cell technology (e.g. potential future hydrogen supply infrastructure, including monitoring, safety).    ADVANTAGE - The combination of both a heat conduction and resonant frequency shift detection method yields uniquely identifiable signatures for sample gases that cannot otherwise be obtained from the detection methods individually. The system allows detection of a wide range of gases including hydrogen, methane, carbon dioxide, and noble gases.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - INDEPENDENT CLAIMS are included for the following:    (1) detecting and identifying gases, involving determining dissipation of heat from a microcantilever into gases, and determining shifts in resonant frequency of the microcantilever due to viscous damping by the gases; and    (2) computer program product for detecting and identifying gases, comprising a computer readable medium having computer readable program code, where the computer readable program code configured to receive data regarding changes in an electrical resistance of a piezoresistor, receive data regarding shifts in resonant frequency of a microcantilever, determine dissipation of heat from the microcantilever into gases based on the data regarding changes in the electrical resistance of the piezoresistor, determine viscous damping of the gases based on the data regarding shifts in resonant frequency of the microcantilever, correlate the dissipation of heat and the viscous damping to gases; and output the identity of the gases based on the correlation.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The figure shows a schematic overview of apparatus for measuring gas properties.    System (100)    Microcantilever (102)    Gas flow cell (104)    Wheatstone circuit (106)    Gas mixing system (108)