The Terahertz Detector - A stalker's (wet) dream?
Scary military scientists have developed a super-duper X-ray-ish machine that can see through buildings, packaging and - wait for it - clothing from a mile away. This news has met with some approval from people who don't like receiving bombs in the post, and horror from pretty much everyone else, because like all technology, it will probably be used for evil.
Break out the tinfoil Burqas, because with this, Facebook's blatant flouting of privacy rights and Europe's Big-Brother-esque surveillance, the future is going to be a very, er, exposing place.
According to the press release on Wired.com, this will be "less invasive" than normal X-rays, because the terahertz waves (somewhere between infrared and microwaves) can't go through water or metal.
"Aha!" you cry. Just put your drugs and/or bombs in a nice little baggie, in a bottle of water or in a metal case and you're sorted.
Unless they use both at the same time. Or something.
Me? I'm putting my faith in the good old anti-alien, anti-government, anti-(insert conspiracy theory here) tinfoil armour.
Available at grocery stores near you!
Comments
Wow! That's awesome, thenack. Thanks for this hugely interesting and informative comment. Gold star for yoouuu!
No, really. I'm not being sarcastic. I wanna go to conferences! 
The sad thing is that the things that make this kind of technology necessary are not going away anytime soon. I think that any security operator that sees through my clothing is in for a good giggle. ;D;D
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I actually met a top Uero Space Research engineering Dude at a conference 4 years ago. He was presenting papers on this technology. The one they were working on were to be used in airports mostly (but I gues the big brother stuff were too classified to show). The point of the tool is that people are starting to use ceramic knives, plastic explosives and ceramic guns, which do not show up on X rays.
He showed us some amazing pictures taken with this device, and yes, you can see through clothes. The model "terrorist" in the test were a podgy middle aged guy and the speaker dryly comment " The great thing about this technology is that you can see through clothes, but it is also the worst thing about this technology..."