We mentioned a while back that breakthroughs in Terahertz transmission had begun, with cheap and cheerful transistors that could easily transmit tens of gigabits, with greater penetration through various materials such as metal than alternatives like infra-red.
It's these penetrative properties that spurred on engineers at Caltech, who have produced a cost-effective CMOS sensor for the untouched frequency band.
These sensors, or rather scanners, as they also emit radiation much like night-vision goggles, land in the same cost and size space as a typical RGB camera sensor, however have the unique capability to detect concealed items, analyse drug chemical fingerprints or to determine the fat content of food... or even of another person.
There are many new uses for this technology, some of which are yet to be fully realised, however it would be great to see it hit the market in an affordable manner, much in the same way you can pick-up an infra-red sensor today. There's still the issue of privacy and security and it may be that a distance limitation be imposed on these chips should they ever reach the wider market.
Either way, just to be sure, you may want to watch what you eat for Christmas on the off-chance your fat content is analysed!
