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...explosive Abdulmutallab allegedly used is called pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), and it is powerful even in quantities as small as a hundredth of a pound. It comes from the same chemical family as nitroglycerin and has a long history of use in terrorist attacks. Though PETN itself is controlled, the chemicals used to make it aren't that hard to find - and Abdulmutallab or any other bombers would likely be able to obtain the explosive on the black market if they couldn't synthesize it themselves. The shoe bomber Richard Reid tried to use PETN to destroy a plane over...
...Instead, Abdulmutallab allegedly brought along a syringe, which could have been filled with a liquid explosive like nitroglycerin. If done correctly, the primer explosion could have set off the PETN, which might have blown a hole in the side of the plane. "It looked like he was trying to use a chemical initiation, and that takes a lot of pre-experimentation to find out what would work," says Oxley. "He succeeded in getting a fire, but that was it." (Read "Napolitano's Gaffe: Did the System Really Work...
Having to use a liquid primer rather than a detonator makes the bomber's task more difficult but not impossible. It will not be easy to prevent similar attacks in the future without ramped-up airport security. While airport "puffer" machines, which blow air on passengers to collect residue, might have detected the PETN, it's not certain, and many airports lack the machines. "There's always room for improvement in airport security, but it's always going to be a trade-off between convenience and commerce," says Oxley. In the meantime, we may have to count on what worked...
...Responds When I began the piece, I was well aware of the great when-does-the-decade-begin controversy, which I remembered from the days of Y2K. Back then, most folks seemed to consider the past decade over on Dec. 31, 1999, so it made sense to me to use that benchmark for this decade as well. The editors here agreed with me. Given the name of the magazine, don't they deserve a little license...
...credible fitness expert would argue that one can lose weight through exercise alone, but the tone of your article was unnecessarily discouraging. If people use exercise as an excuse to eat poorly, that's a lack of discipline, not a "myth" about exercise...