London: Sick of intrusive airport security checks? These next-generation scanners can make things worse for you!
A new technology being developed on behalf of the US government will allow airport staffers to scan every single molecule in your body.
Interestingly, the travellers might not even get to know that they are being watched, as the device can be operated from a distance of 50 metres, the 'Daily Mail' reported.
The Department of Homeland Security intends to use the Pico-second Programmable Laser scanners in airports, but as the device is small and light enough to be easily portable, it could also be installed in any building or even on the street.
The device could be used for everyday law enforcement - for example, it can detect even the tiniest quantity of drugs, such as the trace amounts of cocaine found on many banknotes.
An unidentified undersecretary at Homeland Security has predicted that the technology will be used within the next one to two years, the report said.
The new scanners would be ten million times faster and one million times more sensitive than those used in airports and border patrols currently, it said.
The laser scanner can "penetrate clothing and many other organic materials and offers spectroscopic information, especially for materials that impact safety such as explosives and pharmacological substances".
According to Gizmodo, the scannner works by using lasers to evaluate the presence of any chemical traces on people or packages, and then that information is synched up to a computer attached to the small machine.
The process of scanning and downloading the information takes only pico-seconds - one-trillionth of a second - which means that security workers would be alerted to any alarming substances as you were approaching them.
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