'Fear detector' being developed

[Eugen Leitl]

http://www.physorg.com/news176452932.html

'Fear detector' being developed

November 3, 2009 by Lin Edwards Customs

Border control in the United States. Image: James R. Tourtellotte, via
Wikimedia Commons.

(PhysOrg.com) -- British scientists are aiming to develop a device that can
detect the smell of fear, and that could one day identify terrorists, drug
smugglers, and other criminals.

The 18-month project to develop two sensor systems is being carried out at
the City University London, and is being led by Professor Tong Sun. The
project has funding from the Home Office Scientific Development Branch.

After a feasibility study is complete, two devices are expected to be
designed to identify the fear pheromone in human sweat; one by laser
absorption, and the other by a portable optical fiber instrument. The devices
could be used to help police identify abnormal behavior at big events such as
the 2012 Olympics.

The research project follows on from evidence gained last year in the US by
scientists who collected the underarm sweat of 20 novice skydivers about to
make their first jump. They then asked other volunteers, ignorant of the
experiment's nature, to smell the samples via a nebulizer, while their brains
were scanned. The study found the smell of fear is real, and that the parts
of the brain associated with fear responded to the smell of fear.

The British scientists hope to use the effect to develop security systems
that can detect the fear pheromone. The challenge, according to Sun, is in
identifying and characterizing the specific chemical signature for human
fear, especially fear related to criminal acts.

The research will also examine potential problems such as interference by
deodorants and perfumes, and will look at variations in pheromone production
in different people.

Professor Sun said prototypes of the "fear detectors" could be developed
within a couple of years, and she added that she saw no reason why there
could not be similar detectors to identify other human odors by age, gender
or race, in order to build a profile of a criminal.