The Body Scanner

Attached to the front of the scanner below the window was a large rectangle of the same white plastic. This contained the actual X-Ray scanning equipment and it shot directly thru an opaque section of the enclosure right below the window. It also had a bank of 15 status lights and a small LCD readout screen in case the computer connection failed. All in all, the scanner looked very futuristic and cool, in a geeky sort of way.

Jennifer and Lisa talked it over and 5 minutes later Jennifer agreed, "I'll take the apartment and help you with your science project. But I have a job and school so it can't be too many hours and I'll need you to be flexible. When can I move in?"

"That's great, I can be very flexible with the timing; no problem. I'm fine with you moving in whenever you want. Is this weekend ok?"

"Sure, that's perfect" she replied.

I smiled as I watched them leave, I had my roommate and future lab partner. Now I had a chance of turning my scanner design into a next generation version that was capable of detecting internal explosives or even drugs. Who knows, there might even be medical applications in the future.

I'd just read about a collaborative effort between Doctor's and scientists that used a low power microwave machine, somewhat similar to my body scanner to kill malaria parasites inside infected people. Turned out that since the strain of bacteria that is spread by mosquito bites and actually causes malaria (which kills millions of people a year worldwide) feeds off of blood cells it ends up with a much higher iron content than the surrounding cells. The scientific team built a full body low power microwave that effectively heated up the high iron content bacteria until they burst but didn't harm the surrounding tissue or patient. It was like a big malaria zapping microwave that you could step into sick and come out the other side malaria free. It is still early days with a lot more research needed, but it could prove to be a very elegant solution to the increasingly drug resistant malaria strains.

Maybe my device could have an equally positive affect on humanity.

Only time will tell.