On The Drawing Board: Scary Science
Wired Magazine (Sep. 2006) recently published an article about new science projects that bump the line between scary and cool. This harkens back to the old TSR “Top Secret, S.I.” supplement – The G4 File – which covered weapons available in the gaming system, as well as a really cool section called “On The Drawing Board.”
This section talked to some new technological ideas (for the 80s) that would help win the war against godless communism. Ok – so it’s now a bit dated, but I am sure I am not the only one who misses the time when are enemies were bound by MAD and the Geneva Convention. In either case, there were some really cool ideas there (DASER, anyone?) that seemed a little too well thought-out for a simple roleplaying game book.
Here are a few highlights from the article:
The Best: Science Projects That Scare the #%@! Out of Us
Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider
What’s faster than a speeding bullet and more powerful than a locomotive? Beams of gold ions slamming into each other at light-speed. Although the thermal release from this collision is a million times hotter than the surface of the sun, scientists at Brookhaven National Lab say this won’t create a galaxy-swallowing black hole or fundamentally alter the universe. Probably.
Remote-Controlled Sharks
In a Darpa-funded effort to develop the ultimate stealth spy, chips implanted in the brains of blue sharks will enable the creatures’ movements to be guided by sonar. What, no lasers on their heads?
Ionosphere Heater
Here’s an idea: Build an array of 180 antennas in Alaska to beam radio waves at the ionosphere – the upper layer of Earth’s atmosphere – creating an electric field that interacts with charged particles. Operated by the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, this disruption can raise the temperature of the ionosphere by as much as 30 percent over a 9- to 40-kilometer radius. It’s targeted global warming.
ITER Tokamak Fusion Reactor
This donut-shaped magnetic reactor will ignite a “burning plasma” by 2015. Sounds cool, but to paraphrase one Nobel physicist: The problem with trying to bottle the sun is that we don’t know how to make the bottle.
Nanobomb
By manipulating the properties of metals on the nanoscale, Defense and Energy Department scientists are figuring out how to make faster and more energetic explosions. The goal? Compact weapons that pack several times the detonative force of even the MOAB (mother of all bombs). Next up: a briefcase nanonuke.
Pain Gun
Scientists with the US military are working on an electromagnetic pulse weapon that induces the sensation of pain from a distance. Ultimately, they hope to fine-tune the pulses to control muscles as well. Fantastic: a gun that turns people into puppets writhing in a theater of misery.
Radioactive Scorpion Venom
Synthesize the venom of the deadly yellow Israeli scorpion, attach a radioactive substance called iodine-131, and inject it into patients with inoperable brain cancer. The venom is supposed to deliver the radiation only to tumor cells. Miracle cure or great origin story for a Marvel villain?
From – http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.09/start.html?pg=7
Ok – I included all of them. I couldn’t resist.
Apparently there is some word on a few fringe websites that there are some actual pain weapons in use in the Middle East.
The source cites use by Israeli forces against insurgents there (no – I am not touching that political hot button, thank you very much – just glad for distance and oceans).
Although I do have a great deal on some aluminum foil hats . . .