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Attention-seeking objects could reduce waste
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MARTIN SPECHT/AGENTUR FOCUS/REX FEATURES
TECHNOLOGY
Defuse bombs from a distance THE next weapon in the US army’s arsenal could be a laser-guided microwave blaster designed to destroy explosives. The weapon, called the Multimode Directed Energy Armament System, uses a high-power laser to ionise the air, creating a plasma channel that acts as a waveguide for the stream of microwaves. The device could destroy the electronic fuse of an explosive device or missile, such as a roadside bomb, or immobilise a vehicle by disabling its ignition system. Further work on the weapon, being developed by the US army’s Armament Research, Development and Engineering Centre (ARDEC) at the Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey, could also allow it to be used against people, delivering electric shocks, though Picatinny spokesman Peter Rowland says: “the focus of this
programme is on developing a mobile system for anti-materiel purposes”. The weapon’s range will depend on the laser-generated channel. Previously such channels have been limited to tens of metres, but the ARDEC team believe it may be possible to extend this to a kilometre
“The weapon uses a high-power laser to ionise the air, creating a plasma channel” or more. “The concept is solid and the only issues are with engineering – the physics works,” says Carlo Kopp, who researches electromagnetic pulse weapons at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. The army expects to have a prototype weapon working outside the lab by 2011.
–A way to deal with roadside bombs?–
Commercial space deliveries blast off
Table seeks longterm relationship
PRIVATE launch company Space X is set for the first commercial flight of its Falcon 1 rocket next week. Falcon 1 is a two-stage rocket powered by liquid oxygen and kerosene, which last September became the first privately built launcher to reach orbit. In next week’s launch the rocket will place the Malaysian Earth observation satellite RazakSAT into an almost equatorial orbit. The launch represents a major step towards routine commercial operations for Space X, which was created in 2002 by PayPal founder Elon Musk with the aim of slashing the cost of access to space. The company’s heavy-lift Falcon 9 rocket is also due for launch later this year, as part of an agreement with NASA to demonstrate commercial cargo flights to the International Space Station.
DO YOU pay enough attention to your gadgets and possessions – even when they are no longer new and shiny? James Pierce at Indiana University in Bloomington is designing ways for objects to periodically make their presence felt, forcing us to “reflect” on them more often. He believes that this will increase our sense of attachment to our possessions, helping to end our unsustainable habit of constantly buying new things and dumping the old. For instance, he has designed a table with an embedded digital
56
kilometres per hour. The top speed of the Puma, a two-seat electric vehicle being developed by GM and Segway
counter that displays the number of heavy objects that have been placed on it during its lifetime. The counter becomes blurry or erratic if someone drops a heavy object on the table, only later returning to the correct count. Another approach is cheeky misbehaviour, such as a lamp that dims if you leave it on for too long; shaking the lamp “wakes” it again. Or a clock that occasionally shows the wrong time, only to correct itself and display a message that it was just joking. Such attention-seeking objects will “discourage thoughtless consumption of things”, Pierce claims. He presented his ideas last week at the Computer Human Interaction conference in Boston.
“Studying the walls is like turning the pages of a book” Juan Castilla of Spain’s Higher Council for Scientific Research, who is heading a team using 3D laser scanners and image-recognition software to record and translate the Arabic inscriptions carved into the walls of the Alhambra palace in Granada, Spain (The Guardian, London, 7 April)
18 April 2009 | NewScientist | 17
MARTIN SPECHT/AGENTUR FOCUS/REX FEATURES
TECHNOLOGY
Defuse bombs from a distance THE next weapon in the US army’s arsenal could be a laser-guided microwave blaster designed to destroy explosives. The weapon, called the Multimode Directed Energy Armament System, uses a high-power laser to ionise the air, creating a plasma channel that acts as a waveguide for the stream of microwaves. The device could destroy the electronic fuse of an explosive device or missile, such as a roadside bomb, or immobilise a vehicle by disabling its ignition system. Further work on the weapon, being developed by the US army’s Armament Research, Development and Engineering Centre (ARDEC) at the Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey, could also allow it to be used against people, delivering electric shocks, though Picatinny spokesman Peter Rowland says: “the focus of this
programme is on developing a mobile system for anti-materiel purposes”. The weapon’s range will depend on the laser-generated channel. Previously such channels have been limited to tens of metres, but the ARDEC team believe it may be possible to extend this to a kilometre
“The weapon uses a high-power laser to ionise the air, creating a plasma channel” or more. “The concept is solid and the only issues are with engineering – the physics works,” says Carlo Kopp, who researches electromagnetic pulse weapons at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. The army expects to have a prototype weapon working outside the lab by 2011.
–A way to deal with roadside bombs?–
Commercial space deliveries blast off
Table seeks longterm relationship
PRIVATE launch company Space X is set for the first commercial flight of its Falcon 1 rocket next week. Falcon 1 is a two-stage rocket powered by liquid oxygen and kerosene, which last September became the first privately built launcher to reach orbit. In next week’s launch the rocket will place the Malaysian Earth observation satellite RazakSAT into an almost equatorial orbit. The launch represents a major step towards routine commercial operations for Space X, which was created in 2002 by PayPal founder Elon Musk with the aim of slashing the cost of access to space. The company’s heavy-lift Falcon 9 rocket is also due for launch later this year, as part of an agreement with NASA to demonstrate commercial cargo flights to the International Space Station.
DO YOU pay enough attention to your gadgets and possessions – even when they are no longer new and shiny? James Pierce at Indiana University in Bloomington is designing ways for objects to periodically make their presence felt, forcing us to “reflect” on them more often. He believes that this will increase our sense of attachment to our possessions, helping to end our unsustainable habit of constantly buying new things and dumping the old. For instance, he has designed a table with an embedded digital
56
kilometres per hour. The top speed of the Puma, a two-seat electric vehicle being developed by GM and Segway
counter that displays the number of heavy objects that have been placed on it during its lifetime. The counter becomes blurry or erratic if someone drops a heavy object on the table, only later returning to the correct count. Another approach is cheeky misbehaviour, such as a lamp that dims if you leave it on for too long; shaking the lamp “wakes” it again. Or a clock that occasionally shows the wrong time, only to correct itself and display a message that it was just joking. Such attention-seeking objects will “discourage thoughtless consumption of things”, Pierce claims. He presented his ideas last week at the Computer Human Interaction conference in Boston.
“Studying the walls is like turning the pages of a book” Juan Castilla of Spain’s Higher Council for Scientific Research, who is heading a team using 3D laser scanners and image-recognition software to record and translate the Arabic inscriptions carved into the walls of the Alhambra palace in Granada, Spain (The Guardian, London, 7 April)
18 April 2009 | NewScientist | 17