Airports are stressful places—long lines, frequent delays and a frantic pace. MagViz, a scanning machine that differentiates dangerous substances from benign liquids and gels such as shampoo and beverages, could be the answer to safer, less stressful travel.
 

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) scientists developed the technology, adapted from Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) techniques but with far more capabilities.

MagViz is revolutionary not only because it helps travelers get to their destination on-time but because it identifies concealed threats that look harmless, such as bottled water or a tube of toothpaste. In fact, unlike MRIs, MagViz can even locate threats hidden inside the metal foil of a child's juice box. MRI machines are stumped by metal, so common baggage such as suitcases or laptop computers could not be screened.

The sealed bottles above all look the same. Without timeconsuming or potentially dangerous chemical tests, MagViz can tell the harmless from the harmful. In the ;eft image, a bin loaded with various commodities has a possible threat substance partially layered beneath a foil package. MagViz identifies the possible threat in the center container. The right image displays how MagViz can identify a possible hazard from otherwise normal and similar looking liquid containers. In both images, the potential hazard is circled in red on the MagViz display. From brains to baggage: a new take on MRI