wbeaty

Modern fingerprint dusting is performed using copier toner and a magnet on the end of a stick!

The magnet attracts a tuft of iron dust (that's included in all copier toner,) so it acts like infinitely small bristles. And ...this is exactly the way that copiers deposit the black dust onto the paper, the only difference being that the paper has little spots of electric charge rather than little spots of skin oil.

I've seen one fingerprint kit with that magnet thingie. They used little bottles of magenta and cyan toner from a color copier! I guess that's best for showing up prints on dark uncolored surfaces. You can also get a mixture of iron dust and UV-fluorescent powder.

Here's a rare photo of Tesla's lecture demo setup at the Royal Society, 1892.

More! More Tesla fact!

More! More Tesla fact!

Or non-analogy to accentuate the craziness:

Much of our exposure comes from the radioactive potassium in our own bones.

So, if you sleep next to another person, your yearly exposure goes up significantly. It's bad enough if you sleep underneath them, or between two people, but a pile of people on the bed is far worse.

Um. What was the question?

So, if you've convinced yourself that ANY DANGER IS TOO MUCH DANGER, then your own bones are your main enemy. Also you need to be afraid of Playboy magazine. The radiation from glossy magazines is detectable (though ridiculously small.) See Oak Ridge health physics museum: http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/consumer%20products/magazines.htm and also http://www.orau.org/ptp/museumdirectory.htm

Finally, if you have a geiger counter with transparent end-window, you can take it outdoors and notice the crazy clicking. The hard UV in sunlight is ionizing radiation! They've been misleading us with opaque alpha window GM detectors! Go cower indoors. But better leave your bones outside.