Terrorist attacks in Brussels confirm we’re living in a ‘bomb factory’
Mar 24, 2016, 5:25 AM | Updated: 1:49 pm
University of Rhode Island engineering professor Otto Gregory, right, is reflected in a silicon wafer, center, that contains sensors to detect explosives, in front of a thin film surface analyzer, behind, in a laboratory on the school's campus, in South Kingstown, R.I. He has developed a sensor that detects the explosive used in the Paris bombings, to try to stop future attacks. Gregory compares his sensor to a dog's nose, the gold standard in explosives detection. It "sniffs" the air for vapors emitted from explosives. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
(AP Photo/Steven Senne)
This week – once again – we are in the process of being scared as hell.
The scenes are being repeated hour after hour from Brussels. The airport departure hall, the subway car, places where we can all easily imagine ourselves are being shown in chaos.
And it makes us very receptive to any leader who promises to kill the people who did it.
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People understandably want revenge. However, there is no revenge against killers who’ve already killed themselves.
But we shouldn’t be surprised by any of this because it turns out we’re all living in a bomb factory. Did you hear about the 33 pounds of that explosive white powder called TATP – also known as triacetone triperoxide – that was found in the bombers’ apartment in Belgium? Do you know how you get TATP?
TATP is made with hydrogen peroxide and acetone. Items that are easily purchased at a drug store. At a drug store! Even small quantities can cause large explosions.
TATP was also used in the 2005 London bombings, which killed 52 commuters, and by Richard Reid, who tried unsuccessfully to detonate a bomb in his shoe during a trans-Atlantic flight in 2001.
We live in a world where you can mix drug store cosmetics and blow up a subway car. Fortunately, we are not completely helpless. Professor Otto Gregory designed a sensor that detects TATP. He compares his sensor to a dog’s nose, which is the standard in explosives detection.
So that’s, at least, SOME good news. But since we’re not about to ban drugstore cosmetics, or cellphones, or the Internet, or anything else terrorists misuse, we will continue to have outrages like this.
The world has always had angry suicidal young men – but all our technology is giving them WAY too much to work with.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
