What’s the Weirdest Thing You’ve Brought through Airport Security?

Gold medallions? Unfortunately martial-looking instruments of science? Send us your stories and photos

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Not long after the winners of this year’s Nobel Prizes were announced, my colleague Clara Moskowitz wrote about astrophysicist Brian Schmidt’s experience carrying his own Nobel—a half-pound gold medallion—through airport security. Schmidt’s story might be impossible to top, but we would like you to try.
So tell us, what is the weirdest thing you have ever taken through airport security? Strange instruments of science or samples from the field earn bonus points. Send us photos and descriptions, and we’ll publish the best responses on ScientificAmerican.com in time for the holiday travel season. Last day for submissions is Wednesday, December 10. 

Thank you for participating. Submissions are closed. View the results.

Seth Fletcher is director of editorial content at Scientific American. His book Einstein's Shadow (Ecco, 2018), on the Event Horizon Telescope and the quest to take the first picture of a black hole, was excerpted in the New York Times Magazine and named a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice. His book Bottled Lightning (2011) was the first definitive account of the invention of the lithium-ion battery and the 21st-century rebirth of the electric car. His writing has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the New York Times op-ed page, Popular Science, Fortune, Men's Journal, Outside and other publications. His television and radio appearances have included CBS’s Face the Nation, NPR’s Fresh Air, the BBC World Service, and NPR’s Morning Edition, Science Friday, Marketplace and The Takeaway. He has a master’s degree from the Missouri School of Journalism and a bachelor’s degrees in English and philosophy from the University of Missouri.

More by Seth Fletcher

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