x-ray

I am always of two minds about knowing what my neighbors are doing behind their closed doors. I know it must be something weird.

Why, one of my neighbors sits in his car--which is running and parked outside my house--for hours on end watching videos. Of course, he's married.

So I (or at least a part of me) is grateful that I might soon have the opportunity to see straight through their walls and spy on what kinds of videos they watch at home. You see, extremely clever people at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory have come up with a … Read more

We're seeing the above video spreading around the Internet, and while it's cool, and it's based on real science, we're calling an early April Fools' gag.

U.K. comedian, tech-head, and all-around good nerd Jason Bradbury is seen in the vid using a pair of cheap night vision goggles, cling wrap, and an iPad 2's camera to take a revealing photo of himself--through his clothes.

The idea is based on an inadvertent side effect that some camcorders with low-light functions experienced about a decade ago. The cameras worked by emitting infrared light via special LEDs. The camera, when in "night vision" mode, would then record video in infrared instead of visible light. Some cameras, though, generated an "X-ray effect," allowing the viewer to see through the clothes of the person being videotaped.

This phenomenon was well documented and later-generation cameras were modified to exclude the "feature." While Bradbury's setup is more or less similar to the one employed by the first-generation naked-inducing cameras, we're not remotely convinced. … Read more

We're still not at the place where we can have real-time X-ray video like in "Total Recall," but that doesn't mean X-ray technology hasn't come a long way in the last 116 years.

To underline that point, researchers in the town of Maastricht in Holland have fired up an X-ray machine from 1895 and compared it with a modern machine.

As you can see in the photos to the right, things have gotten sharper. The original device was built by a local educator and doctor just weeks after the first "how to" on X-ray machines was published. It was found in a warehouse and then dusted off by researchers from Maastricht University Medical Center who wanted to show it off.

The old machine was originally produced and built in the Dutch town, and the team didn't just turn it on, they replicated as closely as possible the conditions that would have been available and used by doctors of that time.

But it's not just the better-looking images that make modern X-ray machines better, according to the BBC, but also the fact that they use 1,500 times less radiation, making them safer and cheaper. The machine wasn't just fired up for fun, but for science, by doctors who chronicle their findings in the journal Radiology.

Still, that doesn't mean that we can look down at the venerable old Dutch machine. If you hadn't been told that the image on the left came from a Victorian-era machine, would you have been able to tell? Probably not.… Read more

Remember those X-ray glasses advertised in the back of comic books? Imagine a handheld camera that can reveal the unseen, inner structures of everything from concrete bridges to body parts.

Researchers at Missouri University of Science and Technology under engineering professor Reza Zoughi have developed a patented device that can show the inner structures of objects in real time by using millimeter and microwave signals.

Potential applications include the detection of cancerous skin cells, termite damage to buildings, or concealed weapons at secure zones like airports.

The tech could also be used for finding "defects in thermal insulating materials that are found in spacecraft heat insulating foam and tiles, space habitat structures, aircraft radomes and composite-strengthened concrete bridge members," Zoughi was quoted as saying in a release.

The prototype camera has been in development for several years--check out the vid below, from 2009.

In its current form, objects have to be placed between a transmitter for the microwave radiation and a collector. It can run for several hours on a laptop-size battery. … Read more

Fortunately for the guy at right, the image overlaying his torso does not show his real skeleton. Else the poor dude's spine would be located a little too far left for our comfort.

The image is actually an augmented-reality 3D CT overlay from another person that's being used in tests of a Kinect hack aimed at letting viewers see their own skeletons.

Microsoft's motion- and depth-sensing Kinect is positioned next to a big screen. When viewers stand (or dance or sway) in front of the system, it acts like a "magic mirror" that displays a virtual X-ray window in real time.

Researchers in the Technical University of Munich's Computer Aided Medical Procedures & Augmented Reality group developed the prototype system using OpenNI and PrimeSense NITE applications. The researchers currently envision the setup as a tool for teaching anatomy rather than an alternative to real-time CT scans (though with some refining, that could come too). … Read more

It's the last day of the week for us! Mark Licea joins us today to fill in for the day before Thanksgiving. We hope all of your enjoy your new TSA-approved enhanced pat-downs when you're flying to see your loved ones. Justin isn't even leaving the city, but he's making daily trips to the airport to meet his special security officer.

Speaking of the TSA screenings that have become all the rage on the news these days, Jeff thinks that it's the dearth of news in American media that is letting the issue blow up on cable news and across the Web. In part, Wilson agrees given that the new regulations, backscatter (cool name for a band) X-ray scanning machines and pat-down searches have been planned for months. While the general populace might be a bit surprised by the new TSA regulations, Wilson doesn't believe it makes it right to be photographed through our clothes just because we want to fly.

In happier ramblings, The 404 does give thanks for the privilege of essentially shooting the tech-and-culture crap with each other on a daily basis. It's something we're truly thankful for, and we'd love nothing but to share our love for our loyal and growing listener base.

Jeff, being Jeff, though, has to interrupt the flow of happiness to talk a bit about the blackout for the New York-New Jersey region when it comes to the NHL's new GameCenter service, which lets fans watch games and replays. The big exception that really irks Jeff is that the service won't let him watch his beloved New Jersey Devils! Wilson and Mark really couldn't care less.

Any way, we won't be having a show tomorrow or Friday, due to the Thanksgiving holiday, but be sure to e-mail us or call in at the usual 1-866-404-CNET (2638), and let us know what you're thankful for. Maybe it's that new tech gadget or Wilson's laugh? Let us know.

A University of California at San Francisco professor of biochemistry told CNET today that the Obama administration's claim that full-body scanners pose no health risks to air travelers is in "error."

The administration's defense of the controversial machines, which use X-rays to perform what critics have dubbed naked strip searches, has "many misconceptions, and we will write a careful answer pointing out their errors," said John Sedat, a UCSF professor of biochemistry and biophysics and member of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Because four people are working on this, it will not be … Read more

The National Cancer Institute isn't changing one of its key messages: don't smoke--it'll kill you.

But the mortality data from its ongoing National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) involving more than 53,000 current and former heavy smokers ages 55 to 74 is so striking that the institute announced initial findings today, ahead of a more comprehensive report.

What the trial shows is that there have been 20 percent fewer deaths from lung cancer among trial participants who receive an annual low-dose CT scan than those who receive an annual standard chest X-ray.

While CT scans are already considered valuable … Read more

Transparent keypads and displays on handsets are so passe now that the X-ray phone is here to show off its guts in their full glory. If you're into electronic circuitry, microchips, and all the tiny modules that work harmoniously together to let you make a call and send a text message, then the X-ray phone might be for you.

Created by Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka, the X-ray comes with a 7x102 dot-matrix LED sub-panel that displays the current time and incoming e-mail alerts, as well as an 8-megapixel autofocus camera with an onboard photo light.

Three colors--deep red, black, … Read more