Things You Drink Can Be Used To Track You

sciencehabit writes with an intriguing story about the potential of figuring out where people have been by examining their hair: "That's because water molecules differ slightly in their isotope ratios depending on the minerals at their source. Researchers found that water samples from 33 cities across the United State could be reliably traced back to their origin based on their isotope ratios. And because the human body breaks down water's constituent atoms of hydrogen and oxygen to construct the proteins that make hair cells, those cells can preserve the record of a person's travels. Such information could help prosecutors place a suspect at the scene of a crime, or prove the innocence of the accused." Or frame someone by slipping them water from every country on the terrorist watchlist.

Comments

Re:When I travel, I bring back bottled water.

[Red Flayer]

That is exactly why they take it, because they know you're in a hurry and can't put up a fight.

Ah yes, that must be why they take it. It all makes sense to me now -- it is part of the FAA plan's to accumulate the world's largest stockpile of diverse bottled water!

This, not a crash at Roswell, explains Area 51... this is where they store the bottled water in underground bunkers, awaiting the day when they can unleash the terror of 10,000,000 bottles of H2O upon the world!

Mwu-ha-ha-ha.

I think it's more of "if he really, really wants the water back, then we have reason to suspect the water *is* tampered with, and so we have reason to detain him and send the water to a lab for analysis".