Plants (that's right, flowers) that Detect Explosives - No More Pat-Downs at Airport

CSU Biologist develops plants that detect explosives

That crazy idea has just received major backing from the federal government. The Department of Defense is granting her $7.9 million over three years. "Plants can naturally detect things in their environment because they can't run and hide from threats," Medford said. "What we wanted to do is make them detect things that are useful to humans." Here is how it works: Plants have proteins in their cells called receptors. Medford has found a way to redesign the receptors to detect things such as explosives or chemical pollutants instead of sugars or enzymes. Medford says the idea was actually hatched at a conference in Washington, D.C, when she met a fellow professor working on something else. "We were working with plants and one of my colleagues was working with the ability to do the computer design of the detection," Medford said. "It was sort of like the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups - the chocolate and the peanut butter. It's like, why don't we put it together?"

That's right folks, in the future it's possible that TSA agents will hold a plant right next to you to check for explosives. Never, in a million years, would I have thought that somebody might hold a plant next to me to screen me for explosives. This is quite the idea. I like it. The sooner, the better. At the moment I can't think of a negative effect with this method, but give me a couple of hours. What do you think?

"We know we can get it to work in two to three hours, which is not very good for time and applications," Medford said. "That's what the $8 million is for. Fix it and get it out there in minutes or less." Medford says their discovery can open up a new realm of technology where plants can be viewed like computers which can be programmed. "We're talking about a whole programming language for living organisms," Medford said.

Alright, so I didn't need an hour to think of the negative, it took me a couple of minutes. Let's say these plants are planted somewhere in our environment, wouldn't they maybe pollute other plants with their new properties? I guess I need more time to think about this. Also, at this time, 8 hour detection span is unacceptable. Nobody has the time to stand there eight hours waiting for this plant to turn white. Even if they get it down to a couple of minutes, if applied to each individual going through a screening, it seems it would make the waiting time slightly more unbearable. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's the way I see it. Nonetheless, the idea is very creative, so it definitely gets points from me in that respect.

reply to post by 2manyquestions


From Source:

"It was sort of like the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups - the chocolate and the peanut butter. It's like, why don't we put it together?"

Another $8 million down the drain...


And why don't they just come up with a detector that sets the bomb off...that would put an end to this problem real quick.

Just out of spite. I hope that the scientists use pot plants to do the detecting.
How ironic. lol.

I don't see the need, we already have bomb sniffing dogs.

This reminds me of the work of cleve baxtor, all we would have to do is put plants on the planes and the person that is going to harm them will set off the ground plants.

Originally posted by facelift
reply to post by 2manyquestions

 

From Source:

"It was sort of like the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups - the chocolate and the peanut butter. It's like, why don't we put it together?"

Another $8 million down the drain...


And why don't they just come up with a detector that sets the bomb off...that would put an end to this problem real quick.

Umm... hmmm... well, if you kill the suspect, there's no more information to be gathered from him, is there?