FINDING CONTRABAND:

(SFX: Airport ambience)

THINGS ARE GETTING TOUGHER FOR SMUGGLERS.  BAD ENOUGH THAT A CUSTOMS
OFFICER CAN USE X-RAYS TO SEE THE SHAPE OF ANY METAL IN THE BOX. NOW
PHYSICIST RICHARD LANZA FROM THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
HAS COME UP WITH A WAY TO EXAMINE THE CHEMICALS IN A CONTAINER WITHOUT
HAVING TO OPEN IT. 
     
LANZA: "Explosives tend to have say a lot of nitrogen in it, and they also have oxygen, and drugs for
example witll contain carbon, so what we do really is you take a look at a place in a box and you get an
idea of what the ratios are of carbon, oxygen and nitrogen and that gives you a clue as to what might be
there." 

HE SCANS FOR CARBON OR  OXYGEN, BY USING A MINI-ACCELERATOR, ALSO KNOWN
AS AN ATOM-SMASHER. THOSE ARE THE HIGH SPEED TOOLS THAT PHYSICISTS USE TO
SMASH ATOMS TOGETHER TO SEE WHAT THEY'RE MADE OF. LANZA HAS ONE THAT'S
JUST ABOUT 3FT LONG AND AS THE ATOMS BANG INTO EACH OTHER AT INTENSE
SPEEDS, THEY PRODUCE FOCUSED BEAMS OF NEUTRONS, 
(sfx: zapping rays)
WHICH LANZA CAN AIM AT A CARGO CONTAINER.
     
LANZA: "The neutrons just pass very nicely through most of the material, but when they hit a nucleus of a
particular element they can emit . . . gamma rays."

DIFFERENT ATOMS GIVE OFF GAMMA RAYS OF DIFFERENT ENERGIES SO BY
MONITORING THOSE RAYS, LANZA, WITH THE HELP OF A COMPUTER CAN TELL JUST
WHAT ELEMENTS ARE IN THE BOX.  RIGHT NOW, HIS DETECTOR IS STILL BEING TESTED,
BUT SOME DAY SOON, IT MAY BE RAINING NEUTRONS ON A SMUGGLER'S PARADE.