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Infrared Fibers Can Protect Against Chemoterrorism
Hugh Pickens writes "Although most Americans take the safety of their drinking water for granted, ordinary tap water can become contaminated within minutes, says Prof. Abraham Katzir of Tel Aviv University's School of Physics and Astronomy who has developed a fiber-optic system that can detect poisons such as pesticides in water in amounts well below the World Health Organization safety threshold using 'colors' in the infrared spectrum which distinguish between pure and contaminated water. 'With our naked eyes we can't distinguish between pure water and water that contains a small amount of alcohol or acetone. They're all clear,' says Katzir. 'But we can clearly distinguish between liquids using an infrared spectrometer which can distinguish between "colors" in the invisible infrared spectrum.' Connected to a commercial infrared spectrometer, the fibers serve as sensors that can detect and notify authorities immediately if a contaminant has entered a water reservoir, system, building or pipeline. 'Toxic materials are readily available as pesticides or herbicides in the agriculture industry, and can be harmful if consumed even in concentrations as low as few parts per million,' says Katzir. Cities like New York are especially susceptible to a chemoterrorist threat. With many skyscrapers holding water reserves on the top of the building, a terrorist only needs to introduce poison into a tank to wreak havoc. 'A terrorist wouldn't have to kill tens of thousands of people. Only 50 deaths — as horrible as that would be — would cause nationwide panic,' says Katzir."
This information might be used by some nut as a how to manual for killing people. It should not have mentioned details such as water towers on top of buildings.
I don't know what their mothers feed them, but if Israelis can contribute in such ways - camera-in-a-pill, drip irrigation, Checkpoint software, Intel, Google enhancements, the life straw which cleans water as you suck - with everyone else wanting to smack them down,
There's the maxim of war leading to technological improvments.
with everyone else wanting to smack them down, you'd have to wonder what they could achieve to better our lives if we all just shut the *&^% up and let them alone.
If "let them alone" included shutting off the flow of money and weapons from the US then peace might break out PDQ.