Remember the X-ray technology from Total Recall? A British company has developed what it calls “ThruVision” — a similar technology that “uses what it calls ‘passive imaging technology’ to identify objects by the natural electromagnetic rays — known as Terahertz or T-rays — that they emit,” according to Reuters. “Depending on the material, the signature of the wave is different, so that explosives can be distinguished from a block of clay and cocaine is different from a bag of flour.”
It can spot concealed objects from up to 80 feet away and it works while people are moving. It’s intended for use in airports, malls, and sporting events.
Reuters questions whether or not it’ll “increase concerns that Britain is becoming a surveillance society,” but I’d much rather breeze gun-less through airport security than have TSA agents rifling through my carry-on because I put my iPod Touch in a case made for sunglasses prompting the lady working the monitor to say, “Those ain’t sunglasses — better check this ogre’s bag.”