If you’ve been hunting for the perfect Thanksgiving dessert that will leave a lasting impression on your dinner guests, look no further than this recipe/experiment. The ingredients in your typical pumpkin pie aren’t that far off from a chemical mix known as Rocket Candy that’s typically made from sugar and an oxidizer like potassium nitrate.
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When you’re too old to go collect candy, and don’t have any kids to go on your behalf, Halloween stops being as fun as it was when you were young. But don’t worry—there are still plenty of ways to bring a little grownup fun back to October 31. For example, carving a pumpkin is considerably more awesome when you add some light explosives into the mix.
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Now I wish I had the genius and brass ones to think of this at a college party. The guys at RatedRR tapped a beer keg with detonation cord at varying lengths: 5 feet, 15 feet and 80 feet. As you can imagine, 80 feet of det cord is an amazing sight to see. The fireworks that an exploding keg can bring is only topped by slicing them in half. The footage was filmed at 51,000FPS so you can see it burn bright. [RatedRR]
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ABC News is reporting that al Qaeda has come up with a "new generation of liquid explosives" for a potential attack. The scary thing is that the bomb "would not be detected by current security measures". Even scarier is that a US official called the new method "ingenious". Well, then.
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The 4th of July is just two days away, and we all know what that means: The casual and festive use of explosives. Well, that is if you live in (or near?) one of the 42 states that smiles upon that kind of thing. And if you’re unsure whether you are living in party town or under a wet blanket, this map can help you out.
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We’re sure that most sniffer dogs would rather be playing fetch than hunting for bombs in luggage. If UC Santa Barbara has its way with a new sensor, those canines will have a lot more free time on their hands. The device manages a snout-like sensitivity by concentrating molecules in microfluidic channels whose nanoparticles boost any spectral signatures when they’re hit by a laser spectrometer. Although the main technology fits into a small chip, it can detect vapors from explosives and other materials at a level of one part per billion or better; that’s enough to put those pups out of work. To that end, the university is very much bent on commercializing its efforts and has already licensed the method to SpectraFluidics. We may see the technology first on the battlefield when the research involves funding from DARPA and the US Army, but it’s no big stretch to imagine the sensor checking for drugs and explosives at the airport — without ever needing a kibble break.
Via: Gizmag
Source: UCSB
Anyone who’s hopped on a flight at a major airport, or even some land-based transit, knows the agonizing wait that certain agencies demand while they scan for explosives and check boarding passes. Hitachi is working with Nippon Signal and the University of Yamanachi to build a new boarding gate that hopefully kills those two security birds with one stone. As you’re swiping your boarding pass (or smartphone), the machine also scans it for particle-sized traces of explosive materials and sends the all-clear or no-go in less than two seconds. If all goes well, the system could check up to 1,200 passengers every hour at a single gate — a rate quick enough to prevent a logjam at even the busiest terminals. Our chief reservations surround its scope. Hitachi has earned enough trust to get trial installations at Narita International Airport and a Tokyo subway station this coming spring, but we have a hunch that some airport officials would demand a more thorough screening, no matter how much it’s actually needed.
Filed under: Transportation, Alt
Hitachi boarding gate can sniff explosives on passes, keep the transport queues flowing (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Oct 2012 12:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Just when you thought you were free of airport security checkpoints once you reached your gate, Hitachi wants to make that the last line of defence for explosives detection. Working with the Nippon Signal Company and the University of Yamanashi it’s developed a high-speed gate detector that gives one last sniff for trouble as passengers board a plane. More »
With tensions between Iran and the West rapidly rising over the nation’s secretive nuclear technology developments, both sides are rattling their sabers. More »
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