0 T-Ray Tech Spots Bombs, Drugs from a Mile Away

Direct link to Article:http://news.discovery.com/tech/trays-bombs-drugs-security.html

Scientists have replicated Superman's X-ray vision to see through clothing or packages in order to spot security threats.

     The Gist

• Terahertz waves can see through clothing and boxes to detect of drugs, explosives and more.
• Though terahertz waves are currently only used over short distances, a new technique makes long-range scanning possible.
• Although more study is needed, the technology could be deployed at airports and on battlefields. 

Extracts from article Thu Jul 15, 2010 :

Start investing in metal underwear. Scientists from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) have found an ingenious way to replicate Superman's X-ray vision.

Currently the new combination of lasers, plasma and terahertz waves penetrates objects within a distance of 67 feet. If used outside the lab, however, they could see through objects over a mile away.

Military and homeland security officials are funding much of the T-ray research, including the RPI study, because T-rays can sense explosives and drugs as well as penetrate clothing, paper or other thin materials. "T-rays also do not produce harmful, ionized radiation like X-rays".

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HOWEVER...... 

Direct link to article:http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/24331/ 

 

How Terahertz Waves Tear Apart DNA

A new model of the way the THz waves interact with DNA explains how the damage is done and why evidence has been so hard to gather

 taken from http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/0910/0910.5294v1.pdf

The evidence that terahertz radiation damages biological systems is mixed. "Some studies reported significant genetic damage while others, although similar, showed none," say Boian Alexandrov at the Center for Nonlinear Studies at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and a few buddies. Now these guys think they know why.

Alexandrov and co have created a model to investigate how THz fields interact with double-stranded DNA and what they've found is remarkable. They say that although the forces generated are tiny, resonant effects allow THz waves to unzip double-stranded DNA, creating bubbles in the double strand that could significantly interfere with processes such as gene expression and DNA replication. That's a jaw dropping conclusion.
And it also explains why the evidence has been so hard to garner. Ordinary resonant effects are not powerful enough to do do this kind of damage but nonlinear resonances can. These nonlinear instabilities are much less likely to form which explains why the character of THz genotoxic
effects are probabilistic rather than deterministic, say the team.
This should set the cat among the pigeons. Of course, terahertz waves are a natural part of environment, just like visible and infrared light. But a new generation of cameras are set to appear that not only record terahertz waves but also bombard us with them. And if our exposure is set to increase, the question that urgently needs answering is what level of terahertz exposure is safe.

Ref: DNA Breathing Dynamics in the Presence of a Terahertz Field
              B. S. Alexandrov,1 V. Gelev,2 A. R. Bishop,1 A. Usheva,2 and K. . Rasmussen1
                                 1Theoretical Division and Center for Nonlinear Studies,
                         Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545
                               2Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02215
                                                        (Dated: October 28, 2009)
                               http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/0910/0910.5294v1.pdf

  

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