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Fear Detector To Sniff Out Terrorists

Posted by timothy on from the interesting-assumptions dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "Evidence that the smell of fear is real was uncovered by US scientists last year who studied the underarm secretions of 20 terrified novice skydivers and found that people appear to respond unconsciously to the sweat smell of a frightened person. Now the Telegraph reports that researchers hope a 'fear detector' will make it possible to identify individuals at check points who are up to no good. 'The challenge lies in the characterization and identification of the specific chemical that gives away the signature of human fear, especially the fear in relation to criminal acts,' says Professor Tong Tun at City University London, who leads the team developing security sensor systems that can detect the human fear pheromone. The project will look at potential obstacles to the device, such as the effects of perfume and the variances in pheromone production and if the initial 18-month feasibility study is successful, the first detectors could be developed in the next two to three years. 'I do not see any particular reason why similar sensor techniques cannot be expanded to identify human smells by race, age or gender to build a profile of a criminal during or after an incident,' Tong added."

17 of 342 comments (clear)

  1. Detects terrorists... by the_one(2) · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... or people who are afraid of being suspected of terrorism

    1. Re:Detects terrorists... by cbiltcliffe · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Or people who are afraid of flying?

      --
      "City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
    2. Re:Detects terrorists... by Forge · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Meanwhile the guy with a box cutter and a few pounds of C4 smells horny (for his 70 virgins) not fearful.

      --
      --= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
    3. Re:Detects terrorists... by Shikaku · · Score: 5, Funny

      Lesbians.

    4. Re:Detects terrorists... by realityimpaired · · Score: 5, Informative

      Y'know.... a man can change the scent/pheromones his body gives off as easily as taking a drug like cyproterone. The effects are temporary, but taking it in doses of about 50mg/day for a week before flying will have a big enough impact on the way your body produces pheromones that most people won't be able to read you properly. Stop taking the drug, and your body resumes normal operation...

      Not suggesting, of course, that the terrorists would think to use a drug that, in people with a Y-chromosome, is usually used to treat transgenderism (and occasionally used to treat prostate cancer), but there are a very large number of drugs out there on the market, some available over the counter, that will affect your body's hormone balance, and will in turn affect the pheromones that your body produces. With so many ways to screw with the results available, I'd be very surprised if they could get such a system to work properly with an acceptable false positive/false negative rate....

  2. The signature of human fear by clickety6 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Luckily airports are only ever full of relaxed, calm people who have no fear of flying whatsoever.

    And being dragged off to be interrogated as a terrorist in some darkened back-room by three of four rent-a-thugs can only serve to ease their fears of flying...

    --
    ----------------------------------- My Other Sig Is Hilarious -----------------------------------
  3. Yeah, but... by FlyByPC · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you have a true religious fanatic, who is looking forward to dying for a cause he believes in -- and is looking forward to eternity in the paradise-of-his-choice for his actions, would he* still show physiological signs of fear?

    * (I think statistically, "he" is a fair generalization here.)

    --
    Paleotechnologist and connoisseur of pretty shiny things.
    1. Re:Yeah, but... by tomhudson · · Score: 5, Funny

      > No, but the guy who's afraid that such a person is on the flight will be. These persons will be detected and prevented from boarding, thus they avoid the imagined risk. It's added value for the neurotic!

      So lessen the odds by bringing a bomb onto the airplane. Do you know what the odds of TWO people bringing a bomb onto an airplane are?

      And if you can get someone else you trust never to explode a bomb to bring one on an airplane, your flight will be even safer, because do you know how much rarer it will be for THREE people to bring a bomb onto an airplane?

      Heck, have the captain, the co-pilot, the flight engineer, and the head stew also bring bombs on board. the probability of an EIGHTH person bringing a bomb on board is soooo small ....

      Now, where's my grant money?

      (no, it's not original - it's adapted from Isaac Asimov's Joke Book - which is now probably on some sort of watch list because certain people with no sense of humor act like they have a baguette shoved up their ass, so don't trot down to your local library to read it)

  4. Up to no good? by Eudial · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'd be more alarmed to find someone who wasn't afraid to pass a checkpoint like this. How can you defend yourself from the allegation of some machine saying that you exhibit fear, and therefore is a terrorist? Furthermore, sociopaths and psychopaths will have little trouble passing these checkpoints.

    So you'll get plenty of false positives, and plenty of false negatives.

    --
    GAAH! MY PRINTER IS ON FIRE!!! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!
  5. Oops by dissy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Now the Telegraph reports that researchers hope a 'fear detector'' will make it possible to identify individuals at check points who are up to no good.

    What about us law abiding citizens who are only afraid that our governments checkpoint workers are up to no good?

    It is already a very real possibility for one of those people to make up any type of claim they want and detail you without letting you speak to a lawyer nor involve any courts.
    The reason given can be as ridiculous as 'He had terrorist looking hair' and still be valid. Plenty of legit reason to be afraid of those people.

    Not to mention the fact I have no doubt at least a subset of these checkpoints will be at places where fear is natural (IE airports, fear of flying, or fear of falling out of the sky in a fireball)

    Will deodorant and perfume be classified as a terrorist munition now?

  6. Underarms?! by Rik+Sweeney · · Score: 5, Funny

    "And in the news today, hundreds of teenage boys were arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. They were later released after it turned out they were simply wearing Axe deodorant"

    --
    Summation 2
  7. The only thing we have to fear... by kevinNCSU · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They decided people weren't taking FDR's warning seriously enough so they'd give us a damn good reason to fear fear itself.

  8. Doubleplusgood? by Shienarier · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Isn't this a step towards thought crime?
    "He's scared, arrest him!"

  9. Let's Be Serious by Voulnet · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The officers would only pull Arab-looking dudes, and many of those dudes might produce fear signals not because of terrorism, but because they're afraid of being treated badly at US airports like many of their brethren are.

  10. Re:Profit!!! by Lurker2288 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think the first three steps would also qualify you to be a Batman villain.

  11. I must not fear... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... fear is the mind killer, fear is the little death that brings airport security...

  12. Know what's a bigger problem than terrorism? by Spatial · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Almost everything.