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At airports where these systems are under trial (Heathrow is an example), policies are in place to prevent some of these issues. Basically, the screeners looking at the output from these systems are separated physically from the location where the passengers are being scanned. They do not have visual/optical access to the individuals, only the monitor on which the processed image/video is displayed.

I say "processed" because certain systems that have exceptional resolution also have privacy controls, which de-resolve specific bodily areas. Those systems are x-ray backscatter, however, not passive terahertz. Passive terahertz (Thruvision, and ones such as this) do not have this problem, as the article states. Think about it: f = 100 GHz to 1 or 2 THz. What's the wavelength? What's the best possible resolution (Rayleigh criterion, diffraction limited optics with a reasonable aperture not larger than 0.5 m, etc.)?

Disclaimer: this is my Ph.D. thesis topic.

This (parent's link) is an outdoor 95 GHz passive image (from Qinetiq). It is not representative of passive indoor terahertz images. Note the "glare" from the cold sky temperature on all upward-facing features in the image.

An actual indoor passive terahertz image (bandwidth 100 GHz to 1.2 THz) looks like this. With the broad bandwidth, you can both see through the clothes (100-300 GHz) and also see the clothing features (above 500 GHz. note the zipper, folds, etc. There is an APL on transmission of mm-wave/terahertz/infrared radiation through common clothing that may be of interest here.). I'll point out that this is raw data, unprocessed.

Disclaimer: this is the subject of my Ph.D. thesis.

What is even more unfortunate than the misnaming issue (the term "T-ray" is meant to describe time-domain terahertz spectroscopy systems, not passive imaging systems) is the common misunderstanding that the terahertz security imaging systems actually emit radiation (as x-ray backscatter systems do).

Most terahertz imaging systems are simply very sensitive -detectors- of naturally-emitted terahertz radiation (a la Planck's law), and thus are looking at radiometric temperature somewhere between 100 GHz and 1 or 2 THz. Radiometric temperature is a combination of physical temperature and emissivity, which is why a gun or plastic/ceramic/metal knife held close to your body (such that it is the same physical temperature as your body) is visible to these systems.

As for privacy (rather, resolution of bodily details), the systems will never do much better than this, given the limits of optics (and the 4 meV you mentioned).

Disclaimer: this is my Ph.D. thesis topic.

Here, see for yourself. No complicated science, just photos:

http://www.everybodysweather.com/Static_Media/Polar_Ice_Cap_Melter/index.htm

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2003/1023esuice.html (scroll down)

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/09/15/arctic.nwestpssg/index.html

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/09/060914-arctic-ice.html

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/arctic-20070515.html

http://geology.com/nasa/antarctic-ice-sheet-melting.shtml

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMYTC13J6F_index_0.html (scroll down)

but you'd hope that National Geographic would retain some sense of integrity.

They did, as far as I can tell; I couldn't find any sign of references to "The Force" in their article. That crap is from the Gizmodo article.

"Our study provides compelling evidence that cancers hidden beneath the skin can be detected simply by [dogs] examining the odors of a person's breath," said Michael McCulloch, who led the research.

Nope, by your standard, Turkey has the US beat. But hey, its closing the gap! Pretty soon the US will be No. 1. USA! USA! USA!

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/bigphotos/21329204.html

I wonder if they are going to discuss how Mars' ice caps are melting too?

Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says

Well, I dunno. There's a school of thought that the ancient Egyptians used 'em to raise obelisks. This guy tried it out and got a three-ton obelisk vertical in a few seconds.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/bigphotos/33784558.html

Have you done any reading on the status of Chernobyl lately?

Since the accident, the natural wild life has returned in full force, and the region's ecosystem is healthier than it has been for centuries. Obviously without an in depth study we cannot be certain of mutation and cancer rates in those animals. But I'll venture a guess that natural selection took its course, and the overall population is healthy, allowing it to adapt and thrive in a mildly radioactive environment.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/bigphotos/33784558.html

So there goes your whole argument. Now read up on blue fin tuna that has such large quantities of mercury that even 6 pieces of sushi per week exceeds the safe limit. Read about the Exxon Valdez spill and countless others that directly destroyed entire ecosystems.

At this point nuclear energy is safer than any conventional other energy source. It is also the only economically viable energy source, at least for the time being. People who believe that solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources are the way to go obviously have NO idea how much electricity is consumed in industrial processes. Statements like "this windmill can power thousands of homes" are meaningless, when a single steel foundry consumes that much in a half hour.

Actually, those hazardous materials were all natural and already in the ground: Meteor Crash in Peru Caused Mysterious Illness. Noxious fumes created by hot meteor smashing into arsenic-tainted water.

Here are a few publications on the process. They're not all freely available.

The original patent by Paul Baskis. (1992) Thermal depolymerizing reforming process and apparatus.

A new patent (issues about two months ago, though it was filed more like three years back) by the folks currently working at Changing World Technologies. (2007) Process for conversion of organic, waste, or low-value materials into useful products.

A research report for the Illinois Council on Food and Agricultural Research from the University of Illinois on what appears to be a similar process, if not the same one. (1999) Thermochemical conversion of Swine Manure to Produce Fuel and Reduce Waste. (There's a layman's write up at National Geographic News.)

An SAE report on recycling polyurethane foam and other plastic crap from shredded car interiors. (2005) Recycling Shredder Residue Containing Plastics and Foam Using a Thermal Conversion Process.

Another SAE report on the same topic. (2006) A Life Cycle Look at Making Diesel Oil from End-of-Life Vehicles.

I don't know if anything was published in a peer-reviewed journal; the CWT website doesn't appear to link to anything, and I don't know if that's par for the course for an engineering firm, or if they're not publishing to keep things secret, or if they're selling snake oil.

Norway is often brought up, but it's as bad an example as the Arab states, and for the same reason: oil. They can afford to be socialist.

"Wealth from oil and gas in the North Sea, first tapped in the early 1970s, subsidizes public health and welfare programs"

http://www3.nationalgeographic.com/places/countries/country_norway.html

What about very tiny niggers?

People should read the article that goes with that graphic too. Very informative look at the current state of global biofuel technology as well as coming advancements.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/2007-10/biofuels/biofuels.html

This not surprising considering the number of studies that have shown that people in the U.S. are not as accepting of evolution as in other Western countries. Check out this article: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/08/060810-evolution.html.

From the article (the second paragraph pretty much explains it):

"People in the United States are much less likely to accept Darwin's idea that humans and apes share a common ancestor than adults in other Western nations, a number of surveys show. A new study of those surveys suggests that the main reason for this lies in a unique confluence of religion, politics, and the public understanding of biological science in the United States."

This type of thing will continue in the U.S. as long as parents have this type of power over public education.

"The distribution of dark matter in the foreground galaxies that is warping space to create the gravitational lens can be precisely mapped." Really? How can we "precisely map" something that we have never even shown positively to exist yet? The distribution of gravity could be caused my a number of things other than "dark matter". Gravitational disturbance by itself is not evidence for dark matter, any more than it supports at least several other hypotheses.

Yes it is kind of like propaganda to assume dark matter theory is right, but that's the best theory there is. "Dark matter" is just a name for "whatever causes these observations." Whatever it is looks and acts like a gravitational field. Mass produces a gravitational field, so it's assumed to there's some sort of invisible mass, some sort of "dark matter." And they can still "precisely map" the gravitational field, regardless of what is causing it.

And unless you know something physicists don't know, there's not a "number of things" that could cause a gravitational field like that. Interestingly, there is another theory, ether theory, but even the physicist who came up with it says: "We're offering an alternative to the dark matter theory--we're not saying it's wrong. If I had to bet today on which of these theories was correct, I might bet on dark matter."

As the double ring they found around Uranus

Europe's like what...the size of Texas? ... much like most American's ignorance of Europe

I could not, would not, on a boat.
I will not, will not, with a goat.
I will not eat them in the rain.
I will not eat them on a train.
Not in the dark! Not in a tree!
Not in a car! You let me be!
I do not like them in a box.
I do not like them with a fox.
I will not eat them in a house.
I do not like them with a mouse.
I do not like them here or there.
I do not like them ANYWHERE!

"Don't go to a sci-fi novel for hard facts about history and theology, you'll just be misinformed."
You know perfectly well I didn't use this quote because I considered it a reliable source of information. If you don't...well, you should... In contrast to the "I know the holy book of my choice is true because the holy book of my choice tells me it is" mentality that is inherent to most schools of religious thought, I do not take the fiction I read that seriously. If you want better quotes, here's a couple.

"While some extraordinary claims have been made about precisely when early gospels (and parts of them) were written, it is impossible to determine the dates of gospel origins with much certainty. An absolute date can be assigned to an ancient text only if a clear relationship can be established between the text and another writing or event from a specific, known time. Unfortunately, such writings and events are almost entirely lacking from the time period when the gospels were written." ...

" Only two known events are helpful for determining how soon early gospels may have been written after the death of Jesus: the fall of Jerusalem (70 C.E.) and the martyrdom of Peter (ca. 64 C.E.). Yet, these events are useful for dating only two gospels and a portion of a third. Matthew and Luke must have been written after Titus' siege of Jerusalem because they allude to it (Matt 22:7; Luke 19:43-44, 21:20-24), but it is not clear that Mark was aware of the event. John 21 must have been written after Peter's death, but the final chapter may have been added to the gospel long after the rest had been written. There are no certain references to any datable historical events in John 1-20. The same is true for the eight non-canonical early gospels." ...

All early gospels, then, were written sometime between the death of Jesus and the second half of the second century. Three gospels must have been written after 70 C.E.; how long after is anybody's guess. Two gospels must have been written before the end of the first half of the second century C.E.; how long before is anybody's guess. With such chronologically distant boundaries, it is little wonder that scholars have come up with such divergent dates of origins for early gospels. The dates are based on nothing more concrete than each scholar's impression of precisely when small stories, sayings, or phrases might or might not have been meaningful to a particular writer or community. There is considerable room for differences of opinion with such subjective analysis."

As for the other part of your statement, for a religious person you sure don't seem to know that much about the history of your own religion. Don't worry, you're not alone.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lostgospel/timeline_04.html
"In ancient times many other Gospels existed--perhaps as many as 30. Some of them might have been as popular as today's canonical quartet. But the words of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John have survived to become keystones of the New Testament.
Their prominence is due in part to St. Irenaeus, a second-century bishop of Lyon in Roman Gaul and an aggressive enemy of texts and beliefs considered to be heretical. In an attempt to unify the church he declared Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John the only Gospels that Christians should read. For Irenaeus the number four was extremely important: there were four directions, four winds, and he reasoned that there should be four separate gospels as well."

I'm not even going to touch The Old Testament. For all we know, it may as well have been written by Aristotle, Pluto, or one of their evil twins.

You used a perfect example of "theories over time" turning out to be incorrect or incomplete, with the "inoculations to outbreaks of Polio & Tuberculosis" statement. Observation: and it may even be "empirical": Aids has killed more people that Polio ever would have. Aids is most prevalent in Africa, it is believed to have originated there. It is also believed to have originated in Rhesus monkeys, and somehow made the transition to humans. Now in the 50s the serum for Polio vaccination was made from human blood for Europe and the USA, but for Africa it was made from the blood of Rhesus monkeys.

Modern thinking is that the pyramids weren't actually built by slaves.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/pyramids/pyramids.html#who

One of the more popular theories is that farmers would work on them while the Nile was flooded, as they couldn't do anything with their fields while they were underwater.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/10/1012_051012_hornet_video.html

The only thing this video is missing is a tiny bee Wilhelm scream

So, maybe they aren't disappearing at all - the telco's are having them eliminated so the free-netter's can't put the bees to this nefarious use.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070223-bees.html

btw - has anyone made a honeypot joke yet?

I'll only address the last one for now (busy) - the use of pheromones to communicate.

Even in humans, it works. With dogs, whose sense of smell is about 1,000x more acute, a LOT of communication is scent-based. Observe dogs for a couple of decades and you'll catch on. Dogs can literally smell that you're afraid of them, just like they can smell cancer before most tests can detect it.

Ants communicate via scents they leave behind. Or consider snakes "tasting" the ground to track prey, etc.

Most communication, even among humans, is non-verbal.

Similar account, other interesting tidbits here

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/10/071029-oldest-clam.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/28/nclam128.xml

``The "Arctica islandica" was among a haul of 3,000 empty shells and 34 live molluscs taken to the laboratory.''

``Unfortunately, by the time its true age had been established Ming was already dead. But the scientists aged the 3.4in clam from its shell which like trees has a layer or ring of growth for every year that the animal has been alive.''

Second, how can you be credible when you say that water vopour is a greenhouse gas in the same way as CO2? Water is always in a saturated state in the atmosphere. Yes, it is a major contributor to global warming that was *always there*. 70% of the surface is water! If CO2 was in pools like water and water was at the levels of CO2, then it would be backwards. Hope you can understand the difference between saturated, always there state and *new* additional greenhouse gases like CO2 and methane. The 2 latter ones are never saturated and hence add to the greenhouse effect of what gases we currently have in the atmosphere.

Well, first, water vapor isn't a constant in the atmosphere. It isn't always saturated. And if the models claiming Co2 is the culprit treat it as a static constant, then I suggest fixing them. It has been increasing in amount for the last few decades. The Dew points have been rising which means that there has been more water vapor. In fact, the water vapor in the atmosphere is not saturated. It remains at a level below saturation and this level has increased beyond the coefficient of relative humidity. Here is an article that explains roughly 70% of germany's increase in temperature to water vapor increases.

And notice I said look at the dew point, this number shows the amount of water vapor below saturation and to the point of saturation. Interestingly, if this is increasing, then that specifically means that both the water vapor in the atmosphere isn't in a state of saturation and that it is increasing somewhat so that when the air cools down, it becomes saturated faster because of the increased water vapor.

Another example would be Titan (moon of Saturn). Currently it is thought that it contains liquid methane seas, etc. Thus, on Titan methane would not be a "global warming" greenhouse gas like it is on Earth.

Wow. You really don't know what your talking about do you? Pools of it laying around doesn't determine if it is a greenhouse gas or not. The ability to absorb or reflect long wave radiation is what makes it a greenhouse gas. Maybe your think of a term called a forcing verses a feedback. and while true that a constant value always there would be a feed back process triggered by a separate forcing, it is unclear if the increased amount of the said gas should be considered a feedback or a forcing. A 2% increase of water vapor which could be attributed to factors other then Co2 increases is a significantly higher of an increase then a similar increase of 2% in Co2 levels.

Regarding evolution, it is a scientific fact now. It may have been a hypothesis by Darwin (his free book here: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2009), but now it is a fact that microbiologists rely on. It is even observed in nature on large organisms without our short lifespans. Of course you may chose not to read what Darwin has to say regarding his observations but continue to believe in dogma.

Parts of evolution in itself is a scientific fact but science has gotten nowhere close to proving it. There is no empirical evidence supporting quite a bit of the theory. I don't really care to get into this argument with you. You already resorted to the "my opinion is the only one that matters, all else is dogma". Well, it isn't and you are sadly wrong/mistaken about evolution but unlike you, I don't pretend to want to push my views onto you. you can keep your misguided views. I guess we will leave that drop before I have to school you.

As for other examples, give me proof instead of idle talk. Especially about funding. And if you approach any project as "disprove of a", you'll not get funding because yo

Don't know about the DNA, but the collagen from a T. Rex was similar to chicken. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/04/070412-dino-tissues.html

On the other hand, humans and chimps share 96% of the same DNA.

National Geographic has a project called The Genographic Project that will take your DNA and trace the ancient travels of your ancestry. It costs $100+S&H and your data is stored along with an anonymous code only you know (before you send it in.) Then the group takes all of the data it gets and puts it all together to further their research.

The team behind the project has already collected thousands of samples from people worldwide who have interesting lineages (Indiginous people in xyz area) and found out some REALLY cool stuff.

The $1k thing seems like a privacy nightmare though.

No, that's the National Geographic version. The report is a little different; although, they state that as the state of the art advances, the results available to you will be updated accordingly. Anyone done this?

Also, in case anyone missed it, a few months back, some researchers extracted enough woolly mammoth DNA from mammoth hairs to sequence it

What I find even more interesting is the counter-evolution that some caterpillars have developed to thwart the wasps. Most of these wasps track by scent, in particular the scent of the caterpillar's feces. Some caterpillars have developed a mechanism to shoot their own feces a distance of 40 times their body length . Just pray that cockroaches don't develop a similar defense!

If you haven't seen it yet, watch (or read, I suppose) "Journey of Man."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Journey_of_Man:_A_Genetic_Odyssey
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/12/1212_021213_journeyofman.html

It provides a great grounding in the science and methodology, and the documentary is narrated by the scientist who did much of the research (a rare treat).

Actually, phytoplankton account for most of our CO2 -> O2 exchange. But planting trees makes for better TV. Unfortunately, it isn't nearly as effective. And that's why I won't identify with (most) environmentalists. In fact, logging is one of the few activities that cause "mature" forests to have a net positive impact on removing CO2 (dead, decaying trees release CO2, especially if they burn).

Please read this. Thanks!

If you are interested in just your ancestry part check out National Geographic's Genographic project:

https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/index.html

Less money and pretty interesting. I did it myself and was pleased with the results. Very interesting indeed! :)

"A new study shows that 20 percent of human genes have been patented in the United States, primarily by private firms and universities."
as of 2005

Ohne Worte (spechless, though not quite)

CC.

What reprocessing? If reprocessing was so effective (references please) then why is the US's current nuclear waste disposal in such a disastrous mess?
A few years back National Geographic did an article about the state of nuclear waste storage, and it was not good news at all.

The industry and government experts are talking about a 10,000 year program to store the nuclear crud already leaking all over US soil now.

If you have a better idea, you could get rich, they're talking about spending literally billions of dollars on this current problem, never mind any new waste brought on by a massive build up of new plants.

References:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/07/0711_020711_yuccaspikes.html
http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0207/feature1/index.html?fs=www7.nationalgeographic.com

What reprocessing? If reprocessing was so effective (references please) then why is the US's current nuclear waste disposal in such a disastrous mess?
A few years back National Geographic did an article about the state of nuclear waste storage, and it was not good news at all.

The industry and government experts are talking about a 10,000 year program to store the nuclear crud already leaking all over US soil now.

If you have a better idea, you could get rich, they're talking about spending literally billions of dollars on this current problem, never mind any new waste brought on by a massive build up of new plants.

References:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/07/0711_020711_yuccaspikes.html
http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0207/feature1/index.html?fs=www7.nationalgeographic.com

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/04/070403-cats-rats.html

"The parasite Toxoplasma gondii uses a remarkable trick to spread from rodents to cats: It alters the brains of infected rats and mice so that they become attracted to--rather than repelled by--the scent of their predators. "

I say they were HOBBITS. The tracks are their HOBBITRAILS... these were the precursors to the hunter-killer packs. These had highly-modifiable feet.

More at:

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2007-09/21/content_6124873.htm

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/10/1027_041027_homo_floresiensis.html

(wink, wink)

So we agree on some things.

I would even argue that subsistence farming is the root of a lot of African conflict.

Here is where I disagree. I don't see subsidence farming as so much a problem as is the ethnic differences. For instance in Nigeria, the Niger Delta is multi-ethnic but government policies favor some ethnic groups over others: Nigeria: Characterising the Niger Delta Struggle . In Botswana the San or Bushmen were being forced off their ancestral lands so mining companies can get at the diamonds there: Bushmen Driven From Ancestral Lands in Botswana . Luckily the Kalahari Bushmen win ancestral land case in court in Botswana. Now the question is is will the government follow the ruling. In the Congo the fighting was partially about it's natural resources of Coltan, gold, and timber among several other natural resources.

It is well known that dogs keen sense of smell can detect illness and cancers. Lets hope this thing can be turned into something sensitive enough and cheap enough for widespread medical use. This could save lives.

for the interested: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/01/0112_060112_dog_cancer.html

I see even higher airline fares.

Add to that, the reason for the change is something that happens naturally (global warming and cooling) - nature takes care of itself in spite of what we do. To think that we (a handful of industrialized nations) can have such an impact as to cause the "out of control" issue that the media portrays, we'd been extinct at the turn of the century - and I'm not talking about the one that happened a few years ago...

If we would just spent half the money researching this kind of junk in planting trees, we'd be better off - 1) Obvious CO2 reference 2) Shade, and 3) Cheaper wood to harvest.

Is CO2 the problem - no, water vapor is the problem. What do catalytic converters do to cars? convert the gases to water vapor. What are we pushing for? Hydrogen fueled cars - what will that produce as a by-product? Water vapor...

References:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/11/1110_051110_warming.html

There are others, but I'm not going to bother, since I bet this will fall mostly on deaf ears...

That's an interesting reply, and different from what I expected. I wonder how inaccuracies in the scripture will convince you that the whole god thing is a scam, but you said it so let's roll with that. (Then again, Paul the Apostle wrote to his friends in Corinth that if Jesus did not rise from the dead, their faith was in vain, so you follow him in that.)

I'm by far not a bible expert, so I'll pick one where I happen to be a little familiar with the topic: The gospels.

It's very common knowledge that the four gospels included in the NT were hand-picked from a much larger number. Several of the non-canonical gospels include versions of Jesus' life story that differ considerably. The total number of gospels is quite impressive.

The rediscovery of the gospel of Judas sheds considerable doubt on the objectivity of the canonical gospels. It makes it clear that they are witness reports, and from witnesses with limited information.
Also, remember that there are no non-christian sources from the time who document the resurrection, which - if it happened - was certainly newsworthy. A list of authors who we would expect to mention this event can be found at the end of this article, which also gives evidence near the start that at least the earliest gospel was altered after the fact.

There's also a longer discussion about the resurrection thing, and I'll leave the topic with that because I wanted to write about the gospels.

Regarding altering of the gospels, christians don't call it that way, the proper term appears to be "harmonizing". It's been going on for a long time, too. this article puts it nicely:

"To
bring the different stories into agreement, the church often modified
or even rewrote the scriptures. Tatian, a disciple of Justin, tried to
solve the problem by writing the "Diatessaron", a composite of the
stories of matthew, mark, luke and john. "

It also contains the following claim, unfortunately without mentioning the source:

""the most radical alterations", writes Kronos, "date from the
nicene Council and were motivated by the understanding between
Pope Damasus I and Emperor Constantine. It was on this occasion
that the oldest Gospels, Notably the Gospel of the Hebrews(the
original Gospel of Mathew) were declared to be hidden (apokruphos
== Apocryphal). Furthermore additions, ommissions, and alterations
were made in the four remaining Gospels. St Jerome, who had been
commissioned to translate them into latin, was surprised by this."

So let's move away from the sceptics, here is the Catholic Encyclopedia, and it says:

"Another factor which contributed to the alleged distortion of the Gospel story was the necessity imposed on primitive Christianity of altering, if it were to last, the conception of the Kingdom of God preached by Jesus in person. On His lips, it is said, the Gospel was merely a cry of "Sauve qui peut" addressed to the world which He believed to be about to end. Such was also the persuasion of the first Christian generation. But soon it was perceived that they had to do with a world which was to last, and the teaching of the Master had to be adapted to the new condition of things. This adaptation was not achieved without much violence, done, unconsciously, it is true, to historical reality, for the need was felt of deriving from the Gospel all the ecclesiastical institutions of a more recent date. Such is the eschatological explanation propagated particularly by J. Weiss, Schweitzer, Loisy; and favorably received by Pragmatis