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The static-powered explosive and elephant detector...

Posted: Sat 23 Jan, 2010 11.14
by marksi
This story completely staggers me, because it is instantly obvious to me that this guy has come up with a device which is utter bollocks and yet it seems the Iraqi government has spend $85M on them. He's been charging $40K for each one, which appears to consist of plastic, a telescopic aerial from Maplin and some RFID tags costing 2-3p each.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/n ... 471187.stm
The UK government has announced a ban on the export to Iraq and Afghanistan of some so-called "bomb detectors".
It follows an investigation by the BBC's Newsnight programme which found that one type of "detector" made by a British company cannot work.
The Iraqi government has spent $85m on the ADE-651 and there are concerns that they have failed to stop bomb attacks that have killed hundreds of people.
The ban on the ADE-651 and other similar devices starts next week.
There are no batteries and it consists of a swivelling aerial mounted to a hinge on a hand-grip. Critics have likened it to a glorified dowsing rod.
Mr McCormick told the BBC in a previous interview that "the theory behind dowsing and the theory behind how we actually detect explosives is very similar".
He says that the key to it is the black box connected to the aerial into which you put "programmed substance detection cards", each "designed to tune into" the frequency of a particular explosive or other substance named on the card.
He claims that in ideal conditions you can detect explosives from a range of up to 1km.
The training manual for the device says it can even, with the right card, detect elephants, humans and 100 dollar bills.

Re: The static-powered explosive and elephant detector...

Posted: Sat 23 Jan, 2010 11.45
by Nick Harvey
The only downside to this story is that the first person to get hold of it was Clinton Rogers of Pants Worst!

Re: The static-powered explosive and elephant detector...

Posted: Sat 23 Jan, 2010 11.48
by Sput
The truly depressing thing is that this story has been doing the geekier rounds for a number of months, and it took a Newsnight investigation for anything to happen, presumably because the papers are now so ignorant of science that they were taken in by the sciency sounding words from the makers of this thing. One to bear in mind when the newspapers complain about the death of "proper" journalism.

Re: The static-powered explosive and elephant detector...

Posted: Sat 23 Jan, 2010 11.50
by Nick Harvey
Indeed. Clinton's original interview with the guy is being described as 'about a year ago'.