MSNBC - Cosmic rays reveal past and present secrets

"Muon detectors used in archaeology, weapons control" Growing up in and near the Brookhaven National Laboratory (on Long Island) we'd go there on class trips and "open house" weekends. I "watched" torquoise samples from ancient mines get "neutron activated" from a small nuclear pile there. They are very big on the medical uses of nuclear engineering. At the end of the tour, a gentleman (this one an African-American I think) would sign your name on the tour book with those long manipulator arms that were THX 1138's occupation in the film, (played by Robert Duvall for George Lucas) with a "magic marker".