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Blue Crab Nanosensor to Fight Terrorism
Roland Piquepaille writes "A substance found in crab shells called chitosan has very useful properties. For example, it has been used in bandages to stop bleeding. But now, researchers at the University of Maryland have used the chitosan from blue crabs living in Chesapeake Bay as a component of a nanoscale sensor system which could save many lives in the future. These blue crab nanosensors will be used to improve security in airports, hospitals and other public locations by detecting tiny amounts of explosives or chemicals in air and water. Read on for additional references and pictures of these blue crab nanosensors."
Oh, good, we've got nanosensors. Now we can stop overreacting maniacally to attacks, the wildfire of uncontrolled fear that destroys our freedom more than any bomb ever could. I can't wait to see our leaders appear on TV to tell us we can calm down.
--
make install -not war
And forbidden by some muslim scholars
Mmm...anti-terrorism
Monstar L
Chitosan is also used for stitches that break up on their own. Cool, huh?
Speaking of Crabs, I'm reminded of this video.
Life is not for the lazy.
they wouldn't be allowed in airports with those sharp claws would they?
President ISES
(International Society for Elimination of Sigs)
But who cares... as the stupid jingle says
"O Kani yorimo taisetsu no mono wa aru'
Terrorists will just attack the crabs' weak points for massive damage!
...until the terrorists learn to attack their weak points for MASSIVE DAMAGE.
"God is nothing but a public static final variable x." - my roommate
Warning!
Firearms, explosives, flammable liquids, radioactive materials, poisons, knives, and persons allergic to shellfish not allowed beyond this point.
These blue crab nanosensors will be used to improve security in airports, hospitals and other public locations by detecting tiny amounts of explosives or chemicals in air and water.
Because after all, we've had such a huge problem with explosives and "chemicals" in airports, hospitals, and "other public locations"...
Please help metamoderate.
You know, I once used giant enemy crab nanosensors to attack its weak point for massive damage. True story.
Ah yes, "could" - what a wonderful word. It "could" be that bad people will be tortured for all eternity after they die. Or, it "could" be that good people will be tortured for all eternity after they die.
"Could" is a word of so many possibilities. It is totaly unlike its lesser cousin, the word "will", - as in "Thousands of people will die of poverty in the next few hours". Yes, let's focus on what could happen rather than what is happening.
I'm detecting trace amounts of dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all
I first read it as "Blue Crab Nonsense to Fight Terrorism"
Chitosan is also considered to be a miracle diet supplement which absorbs fat and suppresses hunger... ... take that with a grain of salt.
http://drumlib.com/dp/000026.htm
Someday, we'll have really fat terrorists because of this.
Buckle your ROFL belt, we're in for some LOLs.
No matter how good the sensor technology is, you still have humans driving the system.
A funny example is an industrial town I fly to on a regular basis. Most of the people work in the mines, where explosives can be a common part of many poeples jobs. When explosives traces are regularly detected at the airport explosives scan, their first question is "Have you been on a mine site recently?" Obviously 99% of people say yes, and are let through without question.
What is the point? We're running around banning knitting needles and letter openers and it makes no fucking difference.
Terrorists fighting terrorists!
You know it will happen. Apparently they're the only ones not fighting terrorists yet.
Something smells fishy about this.
Somehow it seems every scientist doing research in the us has to find a use for his research in "fighting terrorism" when he wants to get money.
Even the ones researching crabs and other small animals!
As a long-time Maryland resident, there's only one question I want answered: will the nanosensors work better with some Old Bay on them?
Will ths magic substance stop people from highjacking a phine with a box cutter and flying the plane into a building? I'm getting sick and tired of the these people telling us it will make us safer as they take more and more of our rights away. I know, if they lock all of us up in prison the Government can make sure we are safe 100% of the time.
Many exhausts of explosive or dangerous chemicals can also be generated by normal activities of janitors, construction workers, farmers, or anyone smoking. I wish them good luck spending millions investigating all those false positives.
This company (http://www.biosensor.se/) has been producing a similar product for a couple of years now. It's used by the German and Australian customs officials for the detection not only of explosives, but also drugs (oh well). The existing tech as used in US airports has a dismal detection rate and also throws out several false positives. If you're going to have a system, then you might at least have one that works.
Yep! Anyone who has ever had a pad of flash paper in their bag will get hauled out and strip searched.
Been there. Had it happen to ME.
After MacWorld a couple of years ago, in New York, the crack TSA troops manning the perimeter didn't understand the cards and nerf balls in my carry on were part of a MAGIC ACT and I wound up splattered up against a wall with a National Guardsman's M-16 shoved up my left nostril, with the Safety OFF!
I am SO not looking forward to this!
Lee Darrow, C.H.
Magician and Hypnotist
Chicago, IL
have been seen biting humans in suspicious labs.
With IBM on board, using their tastiest, fastest computer for crimefighting, we can't lose. These IBM researchers amaze me. First they crafted the chart conquering pop music supercomputer Deep Blue Something. Now, the top 40 reduced to jetsam in their wake, they have set their sights on terrorism. You know, we can talk about how there's no pure research anymore, but IBM is as freewheeling and boundless as ever.
I hope this will end all terrorism, including the one is being committed in Lebanon by Israel using US bombs, killing more than 34 children.
Of course it's been said before, but investing in all these whiz-bang anti-terrorism devices is missing the point. You can't fight a social phenomenon such as terrorism with technology. You have to address its root cause(s). Right now, the root cause of terrorism is overwhelmingly the massive injustices thrust upon the people of the Middle East in the name of grabbing their oil. It would be a lot cheaper for the US to forget this bullshit 'war on terrorism' and relocate all the Israelis to Washington. After all, the US is Israel's closest ally. Why shouldn't such friends live so close together.
There's already an easy hack against these crab nano-sensors. Seems they go into panic mode when they detect lemon-garlic butter. Shuts 'em down every time.
I need a macro sensor to find me women to keep me occupied late at night instead of reading slashdot
I had a Christian friend tell me that they are forbidden in Christianity because they are bottom dwellers. I imagine that would be something in the Old Testament, so maybe they are forbidden in Judaism as well.
...to (possibly) reduce traveler crabbiness?
Cloned foods give the statement "We had that last week!" a whole new meaning.
They can detect organic compounds? Then the major use of this technology will be to detect THC. It'll be used in airports, then by cops in traffic stops, then in schools, then in your workplace.
The only place you'll never, ever see it being used for that purpose is a government building housing elected members.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
But can they detect the individual components of 2-component explosives? Like, say, Potassium Perchlorate carried by one passenger and Aluminum or Magnesium powder carried by another? When mixed together in the correct proportions (no, I'm not going to tell you what they are), they will produce a crude but quite deadly explosive. Problem is that there are a thousand reasons why a person might legitimately be carrying traces of these components. Suddenly, you're going to have miners, janitors, gardeners, chemical factory workers, even senior citizens with dietary supplements being hauled out of line and searched for no good reason...
I used to take my dog -- a Newfoundland -- in to the airport to pick people up. The baggage claim at our local airport basically lets people get dogs off their leashes after a flight, and according to the local cops it was okay. Never had a cross word from anyone; I wasn't inflicting too many more allergens on anyone, I hoped, and mostly we got a lot of good socialization when she was a puppy. At least some people seemed to get a wake-up in the middle of their exhausting travel day.
One day a TSA employee caught sight of us. A squad of four of them surrounded me, quietly preventing me from moving away as one lectured me on all the potential dreadful consequences should they decide to enforce their vaguely-defined regulations. I tried to ask after the specific laws or airport restrictions involved. There probably were some -- I'd always assumed the cops were just being smart about what to enforce and what not to -- but it was clear that the TSA guys were entirely motivated by that obnoxious self-righteousness I recognize from birding near power plants. You know, the one that comes with private security agencies taking themselves too seriously and not having clear "boundaries," so that they end up thinking their job is to harass people. Said people are to be presumed guilty, of course.
End result was me feeling intimidated, which seemed to be the goal. Those guys were a hybrid between hallway monitors and the bullies from your middle school.
Somehow the local cops had always managed to keep me in line, and to prevent potential terrorist attacks by Newfoundland drool and shedding, without any ill will. If one of them had brought this up with me I'd have taken it a lot differently...
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
...by detecting tiny amounts of explosives or chemicals in air and water.
Oh no! Not chemicals! Protect the children!
I'm just kind of reactionary when people talk about "chemicals" as if they were always a bad thing. I know in this case they're probably referring to particularly nasty chemicals like nerve gas etc. but it still bugs me. And, of course, I can't be bothered to rtfa.
Have you ever wondered How to Take Over
Oh my god, there are chemicals all around me! The terrorists have won!
Cress, cress, lovely lovely cress
takes on a whole new meaning!