15 February 2010
Lasers Shooting Stuff
Posted by Ryan Anderson
I posted about lasers last week and mentioned in passing that the US military was working on a giant plane-mounted laser to shoot down missiles. As if on cue, this video was released, showing infrared views of that very laser doing that very thing!
And on a related note: good news for mosquito haters out there. The very same technology used to take down missiles is being used on a smaller scale to blow mosquitos out of the sky!
Hat tip to The Great Beyond blog for finding these awesome videos, and to Nicole and Joe for first tipping me off to the anti-missile laser results.
I immediately thought of a combination of the mosquito laser and http://www.hizook.com/blog/2009/08/03/high-speed-robot-hand-demonstrates-dexterity-and-skillful-manipulation that. A whirling laser cannon shooting multiple mosquitoes out of the air every second.
The laser technique seems a bit of overkill for mosquitoses but maybe a holstered version for spiders in bathrooms could be developed.