Superman had X-ray vision. Now, so does the United States military, in the form of an X-ray gun that can see through fabric, rubber and aluminum to find drugs, money, explosive liquids and even people. The recently released X-ray gun is the first device of its kind that a soldier or would-be superhero can hold in her hands. It’s about the size of a breadbox and works with the press of a button, allowing the user to actually see the outline of organic material buried behind cloth, leather or even aluminum by running the X-ray gun over the material and zapping it with low-level X-rays.

At a recent demonstration, the device could see through boxes, bags, car seats and airplane wings to reveal various organic compounds — everything from bricks of simulated cocaine to paper, ammonia and other potentially explosive materials. Even a handful of grapes. (Defense One supplied some of the material to ensure the accuracy of the test.)

Representatives from American Science and Engineering, or AS&E would run the X-ray scanner, called the MINI Z, over the item and the image would show up on a Windows powered tablet PC. Organic compounds appeared bright white and distinct from the dark inorganic material.

The same company makes the large, toll-booth like backscatter X-rays scanners you walk through at airports – the ones that have given rise to recent controversy because of the embarrassing amount of detail they reveal about a person’s body. They work in almost the same as regular X-rays. When you go to a doctor’s office with a possible broken rib, the doctor will shoot a high-powered beam of photons through your body. The photons pass through the soft tissue to a film, which is then developed to reveal fractures, car keys, staples or other abnormalities. The photons get hung up on the parts of you that are more atomically dense, like bones or metallic objects.

Backscatter X-rays are less powerful and don’t actually penetrate deep into organic tissue. Instead, the photons of the beam hit the surface of organic material and scatter and ricochet, which is detected by a sensor. The MINI Z can shoot these rays continuously, as opposed to taking a single burst picture like a Polaroid One Shot......