Homeland security wants smelloscope to filter out "deceptive"/fearful passengers

[Syt]

Times: Quest for artificial nose to sniff out terrorists' fear

March 29, 2009

LAW enforcement agencies are seeking scientists to develop an artificial nose that can detect the smell of fear as terrorists pass through security at airports.

The US Department of Homeland Security is advertising for specialists to devise airport scanners that will sniff out "deceptive individuals".

The technology builds on recent breakthroughs in finding human scent-prints which, many researchers believe, may be as unique to individuals as fingerprints.

Body odours also change perceptibly according to mood. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have already produced a gel that acts like the smell receptors in the human nose. Now they are trying to create a version that can isolate the tangy smell of adrenaline, the stress hormone, so that nervous passengers or those with a guilty conscience can be singled out.

Homeland Security wants a device that automatically compares odours with scents collected from crime scenes and held in a "smell bank" which, like DNA or fingerprints, could be used in court.

Last week officials said they only wanted to explore the possibilities but scientists are already predicting that it is only a matter of time before police will be able to sniff out crime artificially.

Professor Kenneth Furton, who is assembling a smell bank at Florida International University in Miami, said the technology could identify bank robbers by matching scent molecules collected from crime scenes on swabs.

He said chemists could already identify human smells by race, age and environment. Scientists will be able to tell police whether a thief is white, black or Asian, whether they are a teenager or older, and maybe even their last meal.

Furton, who taught chemistry at the University of Wales, Swansea, before moving to Miami, is also seeking body odours which mark people out as depressed. Other chemists are looking for the signature smells of cancers, asthma and other diseases.

Such advances could also be an additional tool in paternity cases, as family members give off a similar scent. Twins can smell as identical as they look.

One barrier to better security through sniffing is perfume. Detectors will have to be adapted to screen out more complicated molecules in bestselling scents such as Jennifer Lopez's Glow range and Chanel No 5 which mask natural smells and confuse detector dogs.

Natural scents can be boosted by stress, which releases hormones from armpits and hands. The odour can then spread in 20ft clouds to cling to clothes, furniture and walls.

Somehow I think this will make the life of those with fear of flying a bit harder.

[DisturbedPervert]

Somehow I think this will make the life of those with fear of flying a bit harder.

Or those with a fear of being anally probed by the over eager high school drop out security staff.

[The Brain]

:FDR:

[Martinus]

Somehow I think this will make the life of those with fear of flying a bit harder.

Or those with a fear of being anally probed by the over eager high school drop out security staff.

Or those with a fear or anxiety connected with being late for their plane, losing their luggage, or any other of the multitude of fears and anxieties associated with long distance travel.

[Martinus]

This reminds me of an English court ruling I once read (I think it was Lord Black's but not sure entirely) which considered the issue of duty of care/safety vs. efficiency.

He said that if one wanted to be 100% on the safe side, one should get all trains to run at a snail pace, thus they would never run over anyone or crash with deadly results. But that would make the public transport grind to a halt and be unbearable.

It seems to me air transport security is heading the same direction since 2001.

[Ed Anger]

Somehow I think this will make the life of those with fear of flying a bit harder.

Or those with a fear of being anally probed by the over eager high school drop out security staff.

That would be like Disneyland for marti.

[Norgy]

You don't get frequent flyer miles by being anually probed by high school drop-out security staff. 

[jimmy olsen]

This is just crazy. How can rationally people actually think this is worthwhile?

[Strix]

You don't get frequent flyer miles by being anually probed by high school drop-out security staff. 

I can't wait for Southwest to promote it as a perk stating "A free prostate exam" with every flight inside the continental US.

[Sheilbh]

I hate flying.  I fear it more than can ever be explained.

I have also been frisked at almost every airport I've gone through.

I'm not convinced this doesn't already exist.  If it doesn't it'll just make the misery of travel even worse for me

[The Brain]

You don't get frequent flyer miles by being anually probed by high school drop-out security staff. 

You're lucky if it's that rare.

[FunkMonk]

I usually smell like dog feces so will I be stopped every time I fly home and back? 

[DontSayBanana]

And they don't think they're going to get false positives simply from the knowledge that just such a device exists?

The only plus side is that so many travelers would have to learn to fool the detectors by thinking of sex that we might just have a sexual revolution, courtesy of Homeland Security.

[Tonitrus]

DHS needs to be shut the fuck down.

[Monoriu]

This has got to be a joke.