Lasers for Fun and Profit

Stuart of Wapping writes "This is a very interesting site, links to pages describing real-life, tried-and-tested Star-Trek/James Bond gadgets... The Laser Medical Pen, or Medpen, developed in-house by the Laser Division of the Air Force Research Laboratory's Directed Energy Directorate, is a second-generation device that provides a physician or paramedic with a unique, compact, portable, and battery-operated laser capability. The laser can cut like a scalpel as well as coagulate bleeding."

Interesting...

[Twintop]

This is just another example of how real life follows in the footsteps of science fiction: impossible things 30 years ago being made possible in similar ways that they were 'being done' in sci-fi stuffs. It never ceases to amaze me how writers with far-fetched ideas can be on the money so often, even though they are way ahead of their time.

Not exactly.

[mindstrm]

Microwave is generally everying above 1Ghz up to near visible light.

Microwave ovens operate at around 2.4Ghz usually... the reason they can heat up water is due to the frequency itself, and it's ability to cause water molecules to move around in the field. It's not, as some say, because it's the resonant frequency of a water molecule.

Microwave at higher frequencies could even be harmless.. depending.. the reason it screws up electronics is because of the photoelectric effect.. the microwaves end up creating lots of electric currents that burn out the equipment.

It's quite concievable that this would work yet be generally harmless to a human.

Re:Bruce Springsteen's Blood Money

[waferhead]

Is this a troll or a parody?

Not Really

[narftrek]

Actually I think most of the things we have today are because of the ideas in books/movies/etc. Not becuase some writer "predicted" it but because some reader thought "man it would be cool to have one of those communicator thingys" and so he made one. I doubt most writers are ahead of thier time but they have damn good ideas which us ubergeeks latch on to and make a reality. Mark my words, one day some geek will beat his brains out until warp engines are cruising ships around the galaxy not because Gene Roddenberry had some kinda vision of the future but because his idea seemed like it made some sense and sparked the brain of a few fans.

Re:Ambulances

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm guessing that ambulance workers are already capable of cutting people with regular scalpels - maybe in the future these devices will prove to be faster and more efficient or something and can be taken up by emergency staff, but when it comes to saving lives, you don't want to try and equip your medics with the 'latest crazy gadgets'.

Just my guess, anyway.

Re:Not exactly.

[idontneedanickname]

You do know that humans are 70+% water, don't you?