The US government is considering using X-ray vision at airport security checkpoints to give a naked image of passengers.
The magnetometers now in use at airports cannot detect plastic weapons or substances used in explosives.
Susan Hallowell, director of the Transportation Security Administration's security laboratory, demonstrated the system which bounces X-rays off her skin.
To the eye, she is dressed in a skirt and blazer. On the monitor, she is naked - except for a gun and a bomb that she hid under her outfit.
"It does basically make you look fat and naked - but you see all this stuff," she said.
The technology is called "backscatter" because it scatters X-rays. Doses of rays deflected off dense materials such as metal or plastic produce a darker image than those deflected off skin.
Want to learn more?
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_794215.html
The magnetometers now in use at airports cannot detect plastic weapons or substances used in explosives.
Susan Hallowell, director of the Transportation Security Administration's security laboratory, demonstrated the system which bounces X-rays off her skin.
To the eye, she is dressed in a skirt and blazer. On the monitor, she is naked - except for a gun and a bomb that she hid under her outfit.
"It does basically make you look fat and naked - but you see all this stuff," she said.
The technology is called "backscatter" because it scatters X-rays. Doses of rays deflected off dense materials such as metal or plastic produce a darker image than those deflected off skin.
Want to learn more?
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_794215.html
