While the concept is not new, this prototype is fully working and operational. Created by Jing Li and a team of researches at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, the sensor is a multiple-channel silicon-based sensing chip integrated in micro-board with 64 nanosensors.

The low-cost, low-power system can detect minimal concentrations of ammonia, chlorine gas, and methane, showing the values in an iPhone application. It can automatically communicate the results with other cellphones or the Enterprise's computer using Wi-Fi or 3G, and order massive teleportation evacuations if needed. OK, not true. No teleportation yet, but we are getting there. [NASA]

Too bad if you've got a sore leg, right? Thankfully, they're still investigating what level of uncomfortable shuffling would be deemed suspicious enough to call for a secondary screening.

The project is called Future Attribute Screening Technology (FAST), and has also developed machines to measure the interval between heartbeats, and how deeply someone inhales.

It's still all research, but one of the researchers told CNN the program is "doing significantly better than chance." I'm all for better security, but it sounds pretty invasive. As Joe Stanley of the ACLU is quoted saying: "Nobody has the right to look at my intimate bodily functions, my breathing, my perspiration rate, my heart rate, from afar."

Unless you're entering the U.S perhaps. Welcome to the possible future of travel. [CNN via Kotaku]

The updated rules also make agents better inform you about what's going on. It's worth noting the searches are not standard practice: the DHS says that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has dealt with over 220 million travelers over the last 10 months, but only 1000 laptops were searched in that time.

I guess I'm OK with them searching laptops at the border (in principle), but it's ridiculous if they don't need to suspect anything to do so. Especially when innocent folks can have the tool they use to make a living snatched away for 30 days. Supposedly it's the terrorism and kiddy porn stuff they're after. I hope so, because personally, I gotta have my Divx movie rips on long haul flights.

"Keeping Americans safe in an increasingly digital world depends on our ability to lawfully screen materials entering the United States," DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said in a statement. "The new directives announced today strike the balance between respecting the civil liberties and privacy of all travelers while ensuring DHS can take the lawful actions necessary to secure our borders."

It's still a huge invasion of privacy, and thankfully The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed suit for more information on the searches earlier this week. As many do, it believes the DHS policy violates the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment against unreasonable search and seizure.

What do you think? Were you one of those 1000 searched since October last year?

[DHS via Wall Street Journal]

The image above comes from Aeronvironment, and shows what it wants the prototype in the video below to ultimately look like. DARPA's goal is to have a 10 gram aircraft with a 7.5-centimetre wingspan. They want it to get into tight hiding spaces and send back GPS and image data.

Aeronvironment's progress is also notable because such robots previously couldn't carry their own batteries, and had to use guide wires.

"It is capable of climbing and descending vertically, flying sideways left and right, as well as forward and backward, under remote control," says the company.

[New Scientist]

The Act would require a court order to hold a notebook for more than a day, as well as limit when the government can keep, or god forbid, share your life's work of Star Trek slash fiction. Unfortunately, with Congress about to close up for the year, there's not too much of a shot this'll weave through the necessary goalposts to pass, so you'll want to continue leaving the most horrifying aspects of your imagination, line of work or sexual proclivities at home, at least until next year, when the bill is expected to come back at full strength. [Danger Room]

Our question this evening is this: If you put these plates in one of those new airport friendly backpacks, do they cancel each other out? [Evan Roth via MAKE]

The seizable items list is almost a formality, since it basically means "everything:"

The policies cover "any device capable of storing information in digital or analog form," including hard drives, flash drives, cell phones, iPods, pagers, beepers, and video and audio tapes. They also cover "all papers and other written documentation," including books, pamphlets and "written materials commonly referred to as 'pocket trash' or 'pocket litter.' "

Granted, I would not be too surprised to find out that most countries with semi-hardened borders have similar policies. And Homeland Security claims that the guidelines for information seizures at the border have "long been in place" but came to light last month because of "public interest in the matter" (which doesn't make it any less of a big deal). Still, it's a little Iron Curtain-esque, don't you think? US senators like Russell Feingold are understandably pissed, and hoping to soften the policies through legislation. [Washington Post]

The video above pretty much says it all, but to put things into perspective, the CIRT can take down a concrete barrier in about 13 minutes—which is about 16 minutes quicker than conventional methods. That may be a little slower than Juggernaut, but it is not too shabby. Plus, it is not much of a burden for two burly dudes to handle. A price point for the device has yet to be determined. [Boston]

The month of MySpace vulnerabilities kicked off yesterday on April Fools'. As usual they will be showing off a bug a day, this time dealing with the social networking site. Hopefully the group will find something a little more interesting than yesterday's Web-address spoofing.

Microsoft is pumping out a fix for the .ANI bug that recently has been exploited. Most of the attacks involve code that steals your passwords.

And finally Homeland Security wants to control not only your physical life, but your digital one as well. The overreaching department is requesting the "master key" to the DNS root zone, thereby allowing them to spy on the entire Internet.– Ben Longo

Meanwhile, Dell responsibly reacts to the news of its laptops catching on fire (see photo above) with a huge recall involving multiple millions of lithium-ion battery units, while at the same time multiple thousands of these batteries are still flying in airplanes as you read this. That recall may not happen soon enough. Note to TSA and Dell: "Dude, you're getting into a fiery plane crash." – Charlie White

Laptop batteries on planes are an accident waiting to happen [The Inquirer]

Project Page [Futurefarmers]