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Hair-Raising Technique Detects Drugs, Explosives On Human Body
sciencehabit writes Scientists have found a way to combine Van de Graaff generators with a common laboratory instrument to detect drugs, explosives, and other illicit materials on the human body. In the laboratory, scientists had a volunteer touch a Van de Graaff generator for 2 seconds to charge his body to 400,000 volts. This ionized compounds on the surface of his body. The person then pointed their charged finger toward the inlet of a mass spectrometer, and ions from their body entered the machine. In various tests, the machine correctly identified explosives, flammable solvents, cocaine, and acetaminophen on the skin.
the way they detect the flammable solvents is by the ignition of them when the spark of static discharge is done
I'm just looking forward to when the TSA hears about this. Pretty soon we'll all be sporting new traveler's hairdos!
Air traveler shocked to find out he was carrying illegal drugs !
if you're considering a large death toll as a terrorist goal, then you're wrong. Terror is the goal, and having people killed are only the means.
bickerdyke
This could be combined with automatic electrocution if the test turns out to be positive ;-)
I don't know about Acetaminophen, but I've heard compelling cases made that if Aspirin were discovered today it would be a prescription drug. Think of the side effects, the modern day "think of the children!" attitude, and pathetic need of the body politic to feel "safe" from any and everything.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Acetaminophen aka Tylenol can actually be quite harmful. The difference between the maximum safe dose, and the amount to cause liver problems (or failure) is quite a small margin. Combine that with the fact that they put it in other medications such as cold medications that people take along with regular acetaminophen, and you end up with a recipe for disaster. This American Life did an episode on it.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
I suggest that everyone who has to go through the scanner reach down into their pants and stick their finger into their butt hole just before they have to point their finger at the detector.
The funny thing is, try to explain this to your doctor when she wants to prescribe an opiate like oxycodone.
In about half the cases I've been prescribed opiates the doctor refused to prescribe oxycodone on its own -- I was told it was Percocet (oxycodone + acetaminophen) or nothing, they would not write a prescription for just oxycodone. I had one surgeon do it reluctantly, pointedly asking me why and not really liking my answer that I felt it was dangerous and could add in acetaminophen on my own if I felt it was helpful.
I did have one specialist who wrote that way and when I asked her why she prescribed that way she said current research showed the liver risk outweighed the small benefits. Ironically she was the "less educated" physicians assistant and not a full MD.
I think most doctors believe its beneficial but I also think they somehow see acetaminophen opiate formulations as some kind of bulwark against abuse. Either because they believe it is so much more effective paired with acetaminophen and you'll be inclined to take less overall or that people "know" acetaminophen is bad in quantity and it will serve as a deterrent to excessive dosage, especially people with a history of drug abuse.
I also think they are highly skeptical of someone asking for a specific opiate formulation, even when they initiate the prescription (ie, you have an obvious injury and they prescribe an opiate). It's highly ironic that they're so worried about addiction they're willing to risk serious liver toxicity.
Or in the case of Bin Laden, a successful attack would lead to Machiavellian scumbags within the US government turning the country into a police state for power and profit, slowly boiling away the rights and privacies of his real target: the American citizenry (who allowed murderous, abusive foreign policies to be conducted in their name).
And to this day, they are still running his playbook, with zero intention of ever stopping.
What do you really expect the margin between the maximum safe dose and the minimum unsafe dose to be?
I wonder if they'll detect that super-harmful chemical dihydrogen monoxide?
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.