Have you ever wondered how it is possible that we can create a vehicle that transports people to the moon, yet we can’t seem to come up with an airport-screening device that can detect liquid explosives? Having such a machine would mean that we could all go back to toting unlimited supplies of juice for our children without having to worry about exceeding the Transportation Security Administration’s existing 3-ounce rule.
Well… it looks like help is on the way. Hopefully. Executives with the Homeland Security Department recently announced that they are working with top government scientists to test a new baggage-screening machine capable of identifying liquid explosives. According to the testers, the new technology is very similar to the traditional X-ray machines, which currently examine carry-on bags. Only the new machine allows TSA agents to watch a computer screen as bags pass through and then notifies him or her of suspicious liquids by flashing a red dot on the monitor. The technology is being developed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and will be tested next summer at Albuquerque’s Sunport airport. The project is called SENSIT (for “sense it”) and is based on the familiar brain-scanning magnetic resonance imaging, known as MRI.
However, designers say the scanners, which will hopefully be installed in airports one day soon, do not emit radiation. Instead, they use magnetic signatures to identify the chemicals in liquids at the molecular level. Scientists say liquids determined to be safe show up on the monitor with a green dot while those deemed unsafe get a red dot. Liquids the machine can’t identify get a yellow dot. Officials with the Homeland Security Department say the X-ray machines we see at airports now can tell screeners whether there is liquid in a bag, but they can’t “differentiate between a sports drink and a material … somebody could use for a bomb.” They say the new technology can “detect the difference with incredible reliability.”
If all goes well with the testing the Homeland Security Department says it will consider eliminating the requirement that airline passengers restrict their carry-on liquids to up to 3 ounces in containers that fit into a single quart-size clear plastic bag. The department says it realizes that the rule is unpopular with passengers and screeners alike, but this new machine is a step in the right direction.
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