Naked X-rays

2003/06/27 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Teknologia
• Fisika

The woman in the photo is Susan Hallowell, director of the safety laboratory of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration. This administration emerged after the attack on the twin towers and yesterday was publicly presented the detector that they soon want to use at many airports in the United States. This detector uses x-rays, like the current ones, but unlike these, it is able to detect plastic objects that can wear clothes. In fact, X-rays reflected by materials as dense as metals and plastics produce on the screen a darker image than those reflected by the skin, and they look clearly. However, it works at lower doses than conventional X-ray devices.

The detector is not new, it is on the market long ago, but so far it has not been used in airports. It is used for conducting oceanographic research and in some hospitals. Originally it was used to verify that from the diamond mines in South Africa the miners did not receive precious stones. But technology is expensive. The value of each detector ranges from one hundred and two hundred thousand euros, but it does not seem to be the main concern of U.S. security officials. They say they are concerned about the privacy of users and seek ways to distort the most sensitive parts of the body. Otherwise, they indicate that they will cover the checkpoint so that the image is visible only by the police.

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Photo: AP/Brian Branel-Price.