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How The Latest in High Tech Works

Posted by Zonk on from the all-done-with-mirrors dept.

Popular Science has up a feature looking at "how it works", examining the innards of several new technology-based innovations. We've talked about the Sayaka endoscope in a pill, but did you know it captures images in 360 degrees? We've discussed the adorable little Pleo dino-bot, but did you know how adaptive it is to stimuli? And what about the tank-burning laser that can be fired from an airplane? Well, we haven't discussed that but I'm at a loss as to explain why. "A kind of reverse telescope called the beam expander inside a retractable, swiveling pod called the turret widens the beam to 20 inches and aims it. The laser's computer determines the distance to the target and adjusts the beam so it condenses into a focused point at just the right spot. Tracking computers help make microscopic adjustments to compensate for both the airplane's and the target's movement. A burst of a few seconds' duration will burn a several-inch-wide hole in whatever it hits."

12 of 93 comments (clear)

  1. I know of... by interactive_civilian · · Score: 4, Funny

    I know of a worthwhile house to target, if someone can come up with enough popcorn.

    --
    "Empathise with stupidity, and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot." - Iain M. Banks
  2. Re:Anti-personnel weapon by hitmark · · Score: 3, Informative

    hmm, a few seconds sounds like a nasty long time if you want to assassinate someone...

    --
    comment first, facts later. http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm
  3. Re:Lasers in war? by arachnoprobe · · Score: 3, Informative

    Laser to blind people or have other longtime effects (except death, "normal injury" comparable to bullets) on enemy soldiers are outlawed. http://www.potomacinstitute.org/publications/waypoint/Laser%20Waypoint%20Issue.pdf

  4. Re:Lasers in war? by Sterrance · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Thank god, cause I'd much rather be dead than blind.

  5. Airborne Laser Cannon by timotten · · Score: 4, Funny

    Man, if I had some popcorn for everytime some nutty defense department flunky suggested an airborne laser cannon, I would... have a whole lot of popcorn. I mean, a lot. I couldn't even fit it all in my house. It would be a lot.

    1. Re:Airborne Laser Cannon by interactive_civilian · · Score: 3, Funny

      I bet you don't even like popcorn. In fact, I'd go so far as to say you hate it, don't you?

      --
      "Empathise with stupidity, and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot." - Iain M. Banks
    2. Re:Airborne Laser Cannon by marquis111 · · Score: 3, Funny

      So...it's both immoral AND unethical, right?

    3. Re:Airborne Laser Cannon by interactive_civilian · · Score: 3, Funny
      In fact, I would say that it is a moral imperative.

      .

      .

      *sigh* I've watched that movie way too many times, I think.

      --
      "Empathise with stupidity, and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot." - Iain M. Banks
  6. this won't work... by pointbeing · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...where are you gonna find a shark big enough to carry the thing?

    --
    we see things not as as they are, but as we are.
    -- anais nin
  7. Re:That's cool and all.... by mikael · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's mounted on an airplane, so we could paint a shark onto the side of the airplane if you like. Otherwise, we are all out of sharks at the moment.

    --
    Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
  8. Traumatic experiences by Gwyn_232 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Pleo, from California start-up Ugobe, is a baby dinosaur robot that acts and learns like a real animal, remembering traumatic experiences and friendly owners. We peeled off its skin Gee, I wonder which category it uses to remember the PopSci editors?
  9. Re:Stop beating around the Bush! by Archades54 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Instead, hit him straight on the head.
    Why? Nothing there.
    --
    If your neighbours roof is flying past your window, you know it's cyclone season.