Explosives

Suicide bombers are a tactic that is effectively deployed all too often. One entrepreneur is looking to help reveal such threats with a detector that scans subjects for shrapnel commonly used in suicide vests and explosives.

Scientists have developed a fluorescent material they claim can more reliably detect explosives in the vicinity, by being a bit more selective about when it changes color.

A new robot-mountable, sensor system allows authorities to scan abandoned luggage and get an accurate image of its contents. The contact-free detection system can not only potentially help bomb specialists assess danger quickly, but it could also help them obtain vital evidence.

Researchers at the University College London (UCL) have developed a new sensor with the ability to simultaneously detect five commonly-used explosives. Currently in the prototype stages, the device could one day be used to improve security in public spaces.

Soldiers may one day protect themselves from blasts by wallpapering temporary shelters. It may not be very decorative, but the new ballistic wallpaper under development by the US Army Corps of Engineers uses a special fiber inlay to help prevent walls from collapsing under blast effects.

With more goods passing through the world's shipping terminals and airports than ever before, hunting explosives is a bottleneck. To help US counterterrorism efforts, GE has developed RFID stickers that act as wireless, battery-free explosives detectors that can be placed almost anywhere.

A team of researchers at the University of Utah has integrated carbon nanotubes into a prototype explosives sensor. It can also detect illegal drugs and toxic chemicals such as nerve gas, reportedly doing so better than currently-used technologies.

Dr Graham Doig from the University of New South Wales' School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering is examining whether explosives could be used to fight out-of-control forest and bushfires by blasting the flames out of treetops, slowing the fire and making it easier to fight on the ground.

When people make improvised explosive devices, many of the waste products end up simply going down the drain. With that in mind, the European Union-funded EMPHASIS consortium is now developing technology to track those chemicals within the waste stream, so that their point of origin can be located.

A new glowing polymer can be used to detect even trace amounts of explosives.

Kevin Fleming, an optical engineer at Sandia National Laboratories, has developed a fertilizer alternative to ammonium nitrate that isn’t detonable so can’t be used in a bomb.

The Triggerfish Bronze A2 wristwatch from Kaventsmann Uhren is tough enough to survive pressures up to 300 bar ... and even a bomb explosion.