Water water rvery where, and the dowsing rods still don't twitch

[Tapioca_Dextrin]

Cecil’s column on dowsing has provoked many threads, most recently this one. Dopers, however, aren’t the only folk interested in unorthodox detection methods. Most recently, the Iraqui Government spent $85 million on a pair of twigs

There are no batteries and it consists of a swivelling aerial mounted to a hinge on a hand-grip. Critics have likened it to a glorified dowsing rod. [The designer] claims that in ideal conditions you can detect explosives from a range of up to 1km. The training manual for the device says it can even, with the right card, detect elephants, humans and 100 dollar bills.

Newsnight obtained a set of cards for the ADE-651 and took them to Cambridge University’s Computer Laboratory where Dr Markus Kuhn dissected a card supposed to detect TNT.It contained nothing but the type of anti-theft tag used to prevent stealing in high street stores.

I guess there really is one born every minute. :rolleyes: