Um, academics aren't allowed to assemble bombs and then try and sneak them onto planes with the excuse that it's not a human trial. That'd be absurd.

It's easy to think of studies that don't involve humans so that statement is just wilful obfuscation. Physics, chemistry, heck lots of biology, and of course computer science are primarily made of studies on objects rather than people. Of those that are done on people they are almost always done on people who know they are the subject of an experiment. Very few studies are like this one.