URI Researchers Test New TSA Tech 'Digital Dog Nose,' Gel To Flash-Freeze Explosives

KINGSTON, R.I. (CBS) – Researchers at the University of Rhode Island are testing cutting-edge technology for the TSA. CBS This Morning looked at their efforts to come up with new ways to detect and stop explosives popular with terrorists.

One of the new tech items is called a "digital dog nose" that's about the size of a cell phone. The sensor can be mounted on a drone and can help Homeland Security detect homemade explosives just as well or better than a bomb-sniffing dog.

Another one of their creations is a gel called "Schmoo." It can mitigate a threat at a transit hub by surrounding an explosive or chemical agent and flash-freezing it.

"We think about how to detect and mitigate the threats for today, while we're still realizing that if we get really good about today's threats, there's going to be a different threat tomorrow," professor Jimmie Oxley, of the university's Center for Excellence for Explosives Detection, Mitigation and Response, told CBS This Morning. "What would that look like, and how would we attack it?"

See the full report here.