Well apparently one form of it. Newsweek reported earlier today that Purdue University were investigating a technology that would turn common cell phones into radiation detectors. The aim is to triangulate and identify bomb threats, such as suicidal bombs and nuclear weapons.

The project research team at the university went further ahead to request the Congress to require all cell phone users and telecom operators to implement this technology.

The idea is simple, a small chip in every hand held device that could detect nearby radiation and report it to remote servers with their geographic coordinates. This would help early detection of dangerous materials such as bombs.  Gentag, a Washington D.C. based company is also working on a similar technology that would be able to detect radioactive, chemical and biological weapons (among other things) from sensors embedded in cellphones.

A similar technique was depicted in the summer blockbuster The Dark Knight, in which the caped crusader used signals from cell phones to triangulate the location of the Joker. The "Bat Sonar" was pretty much a sci-fi stunt rather than some real technology but it can raise questions whether this kind of technology can come into existence.

Right now, the project team estimates the cost to be around $100 per cell phone, but the prices could drop if mass production comes into play. The technology would prove really helpful in terrorism infested regions like the Iraq war zone where an early bomb warning would be able to save dozens of innocent lives daily. But the real question here is, would you like to walk around with a cell phone that could detect subatomic particles (and who knows what else) and send that information to the US Department of Defence?