Imagine this: You’re walking through the airport really fast because you’re running late and trying to get to the gate on time, before your flight takes off without you.

            You reach the security but instead of a long, drawn out process that includes a baggage search – you simply pass through a body scanner that…

Reads Your Mind!

            I hope you have pleasant thoughts while you pass through the scanner… because… even though this sounds like science fiction – it’s not.

            Believe it or not, this technology is being tested and perfected as you read this newsletter!

            What this is all about:  Most preventative screening looks for explosives or metals that pose a threat. But a new system called MALINTENT turns this old school approach on its head. This Orwellian-sounding machine detects the person — not the device — set to wreak havoc and terror.

 MALINTENT, the brainchild of the cutting-edge Human Factors Division in Homeland Security's Directorate for Science and Technology, searches your body for non-verbal cues that predict whether you mean harm to your fellow passengers.

It has a series of sensors and images that read your body temperature, heart rate and respiration for unconscious signs invisible to the naked eye — signals terrorists and criminals may display in advance of an attack.

But this is no polygraph test. Subjects do not get hooked up or strapped down for a careful reading; those sensors do all the work without any actual physical contact. It's like an X-ray for bad intentions.

Currently, all the sensors and equipment are packaged inside a mobile screening laboratory about the size of a trailer or large truck bed, and just last month, Homeland Security put it to a field test in Maryland, scanning 144 (mostly unwitting) human subjects.

Results of the test are being kept

very “hush-hush!”

Here's how it all works: When the sensors identify that something is off, they transmit warning data to analysts, who decide whether or not to flag passengers for further questioning. The next step involves micro-facial scanning, a measurement of minute muscle movements in the face for clues about mood and intention.

Homeland Security has developed a system to recognize, define and measure seven primary emotions and emotional cues that are reflected in contractions of facial muscles. MALINTENT identifies these emotions and relays the information back to a security screener, almost in real-time.

This whole security array — the scanners and screeners who make up the mobile lab — is called "Future Attribute Screening Technology" — or FAST — because it is designed to get passengers through security in two to four minutes, and often faster.

If you're rushed or stressed, you may send out signals of anxiety, but FAST isn't fooled. It's already good enough to tell the difference between a harried traveler and a terrorist. Even if you sweat heavily by nature, FAST won't mistake you for someone with bad intentions.

Bob Burns, MALINTENT's project leader, said that this is not Big Brother.  Its goal is to “restore a sense of freedom.” Once MALINTENT is rolled out in airports, it could give us a future where we can once again wander onto planes with super-sized cosmetics and all the bottles of water we can carry — and most importantly without that sense of foreboding that has haunted Americans since Sept. 11.

That’s a nice thought.  Now onward to…

The Strange Blackberry Addiction!

            If you have a Blackberry – you know this is true:  A new study of 6,500 traveling executives says 35% of them would choose their PDA over their spouse.

            And get this: Of those polled, 87% said they bring their device into the bedroom.  84% check their emails just before they go to sleep.  80% check them first thing in the morning. 

They Call Them “Crack-Berrys” For a Reason…

"It can actually ruin relationships," said Dr. Susan Bartell, a psychologist and relationship expert.

Of those polled, 62 percent said they love their Blackberry or PDA, and most of them said it makes their life more productive. However, experts suggest, for the sake of your relationship, you might want to occasionally turn them off and spend some quality time with your partner.

From Crack-Berrys To Knee Pain…

            If you have knee pain from arthritis – you are going to find this very interesting.

            Here is why: A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that surgery is no better than other treatments at relieving knee pain caused by arthritis.

86 patients who had an operation experienced no less pain over two years than 86 patients who had physical therapy and took medications to dampen inflammation.

An earlier 2002 study (by the Department of Veterans Affairs) found the same results but had a different design: instead of assigning patients to surgery or medical treatment, it assigned them to real surgery or a sham operation. The real surgery was found to be no better than the sham one. Many orthopedic surgeons denounced the study but in 2003, Medicare decided to stop paying for the operation.

It’s hoped that doctors who were not persuaded by the previous study on the subject will now stop performing the operation.

More Bad News For Young Cell Phone Users

            Startling new research indicates children and teenagers are five times more likely to get brain cancer if they use cell phones on a regular basis.

The study, experts say, raises fears that today's young people may suffer an "epidemic" of the disease later in life. At least 9 out of 10 British 16-year-olds have their own cell phone, as do more than 40 percent of primary schoolchildren.

Those who started using mobiles young were also five times more likely to get acoustic neuromas, benign but often disabling tumors of the auditory nerve, that usually cause deafness.

(It’s thought that children are at greater risk because their brains are still developing and their smaller head sizes and thinner skulls can potentially allow any damaging radiation to penetrate deeper into their brains.)

By contrast, people who were in their 20’s before using handsets (after their brains were fully developed) were only 50 percent more likely to contract gliomas and just twice as likely to get acoustic neuromas from regular cell phone use.