A team of five researchers from MIT and Georgia Tech have done just that.
They have developed a camera that uses terahertz radiation to read the content of a closed book.
The researchers developed the camera based on terahertz radiation.
Terahertz radiation is one of the bands of electromagnetic radiation that falls between microwaves and infrared light.
One of its properties is that it can penetrate surfaces.
Additionally, different materials absorb different terahertz radiation at various frequencies.
The MIT researchers have used the very quality of terahertz radiation to created a camera.
This camera that emits terahertz radiation and then measures the time it gets a reflection and for which frequencies.
The same for the letters chemicals.
Its actually kind of scary, Barmak Heshmat, one of the researchers, says of this software.
However, further research could help develop a better camera that can read to through huge tomes.
The utility for this camera is tremendous.
Imagine a really ancient manuscript from the Greek period.
The ancient scrolls are so fragile that even touching them can render the priceless antique unusable.
MIT says that The Metropolitan Museum in New York showed genuine interest in their discovery.
source: www.techworm.net
