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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.
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make install -not war
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)
...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.
"Could" is a word of so many possibilities. It is totaly unlike its lesser cousin, the word "will"
Have faith.
KFG
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.
Are you kidding? This (and many other useful things crabs give us) will ensure their survival, just like cows, sheep, chickens, dogs, giant pandas, etc. usefulness ensures their survival.
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.
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.
Blue crabs only get frightened from Old Bay seasoning.
/^([Ss]ame [Bb]at (time, |channel.)){2}$/
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.
I had a Christian friend tell me that they are forbidden in Christianity because they are bottom dwellers.
Crabs and other shellfish, as well as fish without scales, are not kosher as defined in Leviticus, which is a book in the Old Testament and thus the Bible. Christians generally don't follow the rules of Leviticus, but Jews do to varying degrees.
Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.