Full exposure

Despite increased airport security since September 11^th 2001, the technology to scan both passengers and baggage for weapons and bombs remains largely unchanged. Travelers walk through metal detectors and carry-on bags pass through x-ray machines that superimpose color-coded highlights, but do little else. Checked-in luggage is screened by “computed tomography”, which peers inside a suitcase rather like a CAT scan of a brain. These systems can alert an operator to something suspicious, but they cannot tell what it is.

More sophisticated screening technologies are emerging, albeit slowly. There are three main approaches: enhanced x-rays to spot hidden objects, sensor technology to sniff dangerous chemicals, and radio frequencies that can identify liquids and solids.

A number of manufacturers are using “reflective” or “backscatter” x-rays that can be calibrated to see objects through clothing. They can spot things that a metal detector may not, such as a ceramic knife or plastic explosives. But some people think they can reveal too much. In America, civil-liberties groups have stalled the introduction of such equipment, arguing that it is too intrusive.

Machines that can detect minute traces of explosive are also being tested. Passengers walk through a machine that blows a burst of air, intended to dislodge molecules of substances on a person’s body and clothes. The air is sucked into a filter, which instantaneously analyses it to see whether it includes any suspect substances. The process can work for baggage as well. It is a vast improvement on today’s method, whereby carry-on items are occasionally swabbed and screened for traces of explosives. Because this is a manual operation, only a small share of bags is examined this way.

The most radical of the new approaches uses “quadrupole resonance technology”. This involves bombarding an object with radio waves. By reading the returning signals, the machines can identify the molecular structure of the materials it contains. Since every compound – solid, liquid or gas – creates a unique frequency, it can be read like a fingerprint. The system can be used to look for drugs as well as explosives.

For these technologies to make the jump from development labs and small trials to full deployment at airports they must be available at a price that airports are prepared to pay. They must also be easy to use, take up little space and provide quick results.

Jogging your memory:

Uncountable nouns

- do not take the when used in a general sense.

- take the singular form of the verb

- have words like much, little, some, a great deal of before them

Some of the more common uncountable nouns are:

accommodation advice baggage (Am.E.)

brainstorming clothing equipment

furniture information legislation

luggage (Br.E.) money news

software traffic travel

weather work