first, there are many explosives that gram for gram are much more potent than gunpowder, or dynamite. This is one of many. One of the issues with explosives is how stable they stay during transport, storage, etc etc. Making a stable explosive is the hurdle. This explosive stays stable in storage and transport by being kept in it's seperate components. None of this is new.
Now, this video places some false info in it to make the explosive seem more relevant to public safty than it or any other explosive is. Note they talk about no need for metal parts or electronics to detonate it? Well, that is true for most explosives. Some may require a bit of current to set them off, others some fire, but then all you need is to pop open your walkman and zap it and BOOM. Other electronics are only related to having the bomb detonate remotely or on a timer...something that normal people worry about as they want to survive, but a sucide bomber, does he care if he dies in the explosion or in the planecrash afterwards? No and no. Hence no need for fancy electronic remote detonators for other explosives.
Further, airports do NOT screen for metal or electronics as a method of detecting explosives. Think about how much metal is in your average checked luggage, your belt buckle, etc. How much electronics is present in your cellphone, digital watch, Ipod. You pass through a metal detector to find out if you are carrying any guns or knives, not to spot explosives.
Explosives are screened using a 'sniffer' that detects small amounts of explosive or explosive related chemicals. Most sniffers are machines, but biologicals are also used (bomb dogs)
There are a ton of explosives that you can put in your luggage that will pass through your average screening. There are a few that appear to be white powder. Sure, they may not be as potent gram per gram, but a babypowder bottle filled with it has zero metal parts zero electronic parts, can be exploded by taking a lighter to the stuff, and has roughly 3x the explosive power of blackpowder...enough to rip a hole in the side of the plane.
Except this stuff, like many other explosives, AND this binary, are detectable by sniffer.
The question is, 1) are airports even screening luggage by sniffers? The answer is carry-on, rarely, checked, rarely. Hence there is no need for this fancy binary stuff, regular stuff will work just as well.
Also, the key to preventing bombs of this type isn't to have everyone stop flying, or stop carrying pens or anything small enough to contain a drop of this explosive. The key is to spot terrorists. We don't deal with 'The Shoe Bomber' by instituting the 'everyone take your shoes off' policy a year earlier, we do it by noticing one individual who is acting oddly, whose credentials are somewhat odd, who sets up red flags, etc etc.
