carrying a nobel prize through airport security

physics nobel prize winner brian schmidt told scientific american a funny story about what it's like to take a nobel prize medal through airport security!  apparently solid gold shows up completely black through the x-ray machine.

“They’re like, ‘Sir, there’s something in your bag.’
I said, ‘Yes, I think it’s this box.’
They said, ‘What’s in the box?’
I said, ‘a large gold medal,’ as one does.
So they opened it up and they said, ‘What’s it made out of?’
I said, ‘gold.’
And they’re like, ‘Uhhhh. Who gave this to you?’
‘The King of Sweden.’
‘Why did he give this to you?’
‘Because I helped discover the expansion rate of the universe was accelerating.’
At which point, they were beginning to lose their sense of humor. I explained to them it was a Nobel Prize, and their main question was, ‘Why were you in Fargo?’”

according to a colleague of mine, Brian's answer to "Why were you in Fargo?" was "To see my Meemaw."   :)

Brian Schmidt giving the 2013 Bok Lecture at StarFest on Siding Spring Observatory