bombdetecting
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Super-sensitive chip can sniff out bombs from 16 feet away
Let's face it: the theatrical security procedures at airports aren't going away any time soon. However, they might just get more tolerable if a team of Israeli researchers bring a new, extremely sensitive bomb detection chip to an inspection line near you. The prototype sniffs for explosives by using groups of nano-scale transistors that react to tiny electrical changes when certain chemicals pass by. And we do mean tiny -- the chip can raise alarms if there are just a few molecules found out of 1,000 trillion. For those not keeping score, previous techniques will 'only' raise a red flag in the molecules per billion range.
Scientists stumble upon bomb-sniffing laser with a boomerang effect
You might think of a laser as light forced into a single, directed beam, but scientists have recently discovered that if you fire a laser in one direction, the air itself can fire another right back. Using a 226nm UV laser, researchers at Princeton University managed to excite oxygen atoms to the point that they emit infrared light along the same channel as the original beam, except this time pointed back where it came from. Since the return beam's chemistry depends on the particles in the air to generate the return beam, the "backward laser" could potentially carry the signature of those particles back to the source and help identify them there. That seems to be the entire goal, in fact -- the project, funded by an Office of Naval Research program on "Sciences Addressing Asymmetric Explosive Threats," hopes that such a laser can ID bombs from a distance by hunting for trace chemicals in the air. Sounds like the perfect addition to our terahertz specs, and one step closer to the tricorder of our dreams.
Scientists create "nanodog" to sniff out danger
A team of scientists at the University of Wales recently revealed that they've developed a new type of bomb-detecting sensor using nanotechnology, branding the tech with the too-cute-for-its-own-good "nanodog" moniker. As with most things nanotech, the nanodog promises to allow for devices to be both smaller and more effective than current technologies, apparently able to detect explosives at levels in the one part per trillion range. And, like it's K-9 counterpart, the sensor can apparently detect explosives even if they're concealed, which should no doubt lead to less invasive, and hopefully speedier airport searches in the future. Of course, depending on who you ask, the nanodog might not exactly turn out to be man's best friend.[Via Fark]
