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Bomb Detecting Plants To Root Out Terrorists
Hugh Pickens writes writes "The Denver Post Reports that a biologist at Colorado State University has re-engineered plants so that they can detect explosives, air pollution and toxic chemicals, signaling the presence of potentially deadly vapors by turning from green to white. 'If you take something into Denver International Airport, like an explosive for a plane, my plants are going to turn white,' says June Medford, who developed the system. 'That's going to get the security guys on you.' Military and Homeland Security research directors say they envision wide applications for the genetically modified plants positioned in buildings, war zones and cities where terrorists could set up covert bomb-making factories and add that strategic placement of the plants could help reach a goal of deploying a decentralized, nationwide system for detecting explosives. 'Our hope is if these plants could be located ubiquitously, we might be able to detect explosives at the point they are being assembled,' says Doug Bauer, the Homeland Security explosives research program manager. 'You would have a much greater opportunity for first-responders to interdict and disrupt that activity.'"
Works great as long as you can wait a few hours for the plant to change color.
When the foot seeks the place of the head, the line is crossed. Know your place. Keep your place. Be a shoe.
That should be
Bomb-detecting Plants To Root Out Terrorists
Read a different story on this and my favorite quote was that it would probably never be able to pick up on a bomb made with Ammonium Nitrate, because, well, that's fertilizer...
Brawndo: It's what plants crave!
This is something they've been kicking around for minefield detection for a while. Seed a purported minefield with grass that behaves differently in the presence of explosive, then wait and you can see where to avoid and send the demolition crews.
Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati
It's a common enough name for those of germanic origin. It means "Farmer".
Your joke falls flat, because reality is much more mundane than fiction.
This makes sense. When you walk into the airport, you're given a flower pot with soil in it and a seed inside. By the time you get to the security gate, the seed will have grown to a flower. The TSA officers will then let you in based on the color of the flower.
This won't take any more time than usual, because waiting in line at the airport is already like watching plants grow.
- RG>
Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
This system is too easy to defeat. All a troublemaker has to do is get a small amount of the target substance and spread it around to trigger a false alert. For example, just walk in the public areas in front of an airport and sprinkle some powder on the sidewalk and leave. All the people walk in the powder, walk inside and then chaos ensues. This can be done at any scale, so even planing over an entire city will not allow bomb making locations to be located. Although this could be very useful in a limited way, it is not a quick fix for everything.
Why is Snark Required?
Try not to fart around it.