Military Tech for Daily Life 234
PreacherTom writes "It is nothing new to see technology from military and governmental endeavors change daily life profoundly. One only has to look at the fruits of the space program (from computers to microwave ovens to Tang). New military gear is on the horizon that promises to do the same, including biosensors, bandages that clot blood using soundwaves, and the ubiquitous Swiss Army Pen."
Where is my home flamethrower? (Score:3, Funny)
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Lysol, WD40, Isopropanol in a spray bottle... (Score:2)
Not only that, if you live in a dorm made of blocks, you can write stuff on the wall in lysol and then light it on fire. Flaming messages from hell!
Well, that's what one of my friends told me, anyhow.
Military-tech always trickles down to civilians (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Military-tech always trickles down to civilians (Score:5, Funny)
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Are often wrong, at least when attributed to the space program. Take Tang, for instance. I was born before Sputnik, but I drank Tang as a child. It is the product of General Foods, invented by the same man who brought us Cool Whip and Pop Rocks (died, 2004). The motivation for inventing all of these was purely civilian profit.
Other things that didn't come out of the space program, Velcro (invented by a Frenchman picking burrs off his dog, circa 1940) and Teflon (invented at Dupont in 1938 while researching refrigeration units).
Electronic computers got a kick in the pants from the Manhatten Project (not the space program), but this came mainly in the form of money and a deadline for machines already in development for use in civilian business (it's IBM, afterall).
Gunpowder, invented for toys (like rockets). High explosives, invented for civilian tunneling/mining operations.
For the most part (there are exceptions) the military takes preexisting civilian technology and spurs its development a bit by adding funding and pressure. We'd still have the stuff without it, it would just take a little longer for the market to provide the capital. They actually refused funding for the development of the automobile and airplane. Even guns have mostly been developed purely in the private sector in the hopes of selling them to the military at some later date. Napoleon and Thomas Jefferson were big players in providing actual government funding to spur the development of existing gun technologies, creating the market for inventing on speculation.
Overall, prizes are often the most effective means the military uses to spur development. Civilians will spend their entire lives inventing to collect a prize of lower value than they simply could have made working in an office somewhere; without all the capital outlay - but inventors aren't that sort of person, are they?
The military/space program is a good customer, but only rarely do anything directly and it's even rarer for them to prompt the discovery of something we wouldn't have gotten in time anyway.
Maybe the microwave oven (invented by accident while working on radar) - maybe.
They have certainly provided a good practicum for accelerated development of treatments/surguries of catastrophic injuries though; ya gotta hand it to the military for that.
KFG
Re:Military-tech always trickles down to civilians (Score:5, Informative)
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And we want Flanders back, dammit, it's ours. And Navarre; and Aragon; and the Sudetenland, no, wait, oooooooooh nevermind, we'll take that too. We can teach them French. Ave Carolus Magnus!
Those people who warned you that the metric system was a plot? Well, they were right!
KFG
Microwave ovens were patented in 8 October 1945 (Score:2)
"Cooking food with microwaves was discovered by Percy Spencer while building magnetrons for radar sets at Raytheon [a major United States military contractor]. He was working on an active radar set when he noticed a strange sensation, and saw that a peanut candy bar he had in his pocket started to melt." - Microwave oven [wikipedia.org]
Does anyone know whether he had kids?
Re:Microwave ovens were patented in 8 October 1945 (Score:2, Insightful)
Yes. I did not make it terribly clear when I was talking about the space age stuff and just plain old military stuff.
Much of what we think of as space age stuff is really air age stuff, circa WWII, most of which was at least already on the drawing boards before WWII.
You can tell the true space age stuff by its use of, well, space, and its use semiconductors (a civilian invention) to make it possible/practical. A "portable" radio used to be the size of a
actually, if we're talking about obvious (Score:2)
Re:Military-tech always trickles down to civilians (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Military-tech always trickles down to civilians (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Military-tech always trickles down to civilians (Score:5, Informative)
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I've had an accident with some quantity of super glue poured on my leg (don't ask). It hurted like pain and caused bad chemical burns, not exactly something you'd wanna pour into an open wound.
Re:Military-tech always trickles down to civilians (Score:5, Funny)
Nice, another gem from the "don't post while still sleeping department"
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Trust me: I had often had of that glue on my fingers too and it didn't hurt a bit. But ok.. here's the story.
I was fixing my sandals (yea, sandals.. anyway hehe), and I applied some glue, I thought it's all in the inner layers, so I stepped on it to apply good pressure. But some good amount leaked on top into my foot. When there's enough of it + pressure, I'm telling you it burns you bad.
When you h
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Swiss Army Pen (Score:3, Funny)
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Re:Swiss Army Pen (Score:4, Informative)
As a general rule, your best bets in my experience for swiss army knives are Victrinox and Gerber.
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I've taken it over many hundreds of miles of hiking and more campsites that I can remember.
The blade held a decent edge, and the screwdrivers were extremely useful. It also had one of the best can openers on it that I've seen.
As far as weapon status here goes, you c
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QuikClot (Score:5, Interesting)
Useful stuff, stops bleeding very quickly. Expensive as hell though.
Re:QuikClot (Score:5, Informative)
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Got some of the sample trials they sent EMT's as a gift a few years back and unfortunately had the chance to use it when one of the guys cut their hand up doing something stupid with knife. Did an amazing job of stopping the bleeding while we paddled the guy out of the BWCA - I can't even imagine trying to stop that sort of bleeding wit
Re:QuikClot (Score:4, Informative)
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My EMS agency allowed us a trial run of the QuikClot, and you're right. It's amazing, especially on oozing wounds. The other device to come from the military is the Asherman Chest Seal, which is a one way valve with a large sticky surface for sucking chest wounds.
Yes, much better than what we were taught to do in basic training 20 years ago: "find a piece of plastic, like the dressing wrapper or the cellophane off a cigarette pack" and put that over the wound under the pressure dressing. Yeah, sure. Sorry man, i tore the pressure dressing wrapper down the middle and it won't cover the wound. Hold on a minute while I find someone who smokes.
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You can get some of that military technology today, and it's not vaporware... Quikclot powder, comes in a packet designed to be large enough to quickly stop the bleeding from a severed femoral artery.
Useful stuff, stops bleeding very quickly. Expensive as hell though.
It is amazing to see in action. Works a hell of a lot better than tampons, too. The price is obviously worth it, but the damage done to the limb is pretty ugly too. Do you know of anyone keeping a limb after using quickclot?
Also, there's a great splint that's basically a thin sheet of metal wrapped in foam, but I can't remember the name of it. Was that military in origin?
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Do you see many people living whose femoral arteries get slashed?
I'd take a missing leg over dead.
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Do you see many people living whose femoral arteries get slashed?
I'd take a missing leg over dead.
I agree entirely. I wish everyone had a packet in their glove compartments. There's only one extremity I would rather die than lose. I was just curious if anyone knew if there was anything that could be done to save the limb after quickclot was used. I haven't seen any data on it either way, but have been told that "you'll pretty much lose it." Of course that beats dying any day of the week.
which raises the question... (Score:3, Interesting)
Ok, since they have a bandage that clots blood using soundwaves, you can pretty much guess that they have a weapon that clots blood using soundwaves. Which is pretty fucking scary.
Re:which raises the question... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:which raises the question... (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:which raises the question... (Score:5, Insightful)
We get some pretty cool toys in the army, but it's all designed so that you can use it when you're being shot at after having had 15 minutes of sleep in the last week. Just because it's designed for idiots doesn't mean that the folks designing it are idiots. Actually, they're pretty brilliant, IMO... why bother developing a super-expensive way to kill somebody that centralizes your killing power in one spot when a 5.56x45 FMJ round costs less than $0.30 and kills them just as dead? When the bad guys develop armour that can safely protect them from everything we use on the battlefield, you'll start seeing new ways of killing people being developed. Until then, it's a waste of money.
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The fact that wounded personnel ties up more people wasn't the deciding factor, merely a "lucky" side effect. Jacketed projectiles were made mandatory in armies after the Hague convention (1899) [umn.edu] because of the horrific wounds inflicted by the creative ammunition in use at the time. Whether the objective is still valid with the modern high veloci
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Except that a bullet needs you to aim, and you need line-of-sight. An ultrasonic blood-clotting weapon could surely be made to work through walls, if the army threw enough money at it. And beyond the battlefield, an ultrasonic blood-clotting weapon is a great way to cause a seemingly "natural" death through stroke.
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Well, that was the theory behind the Strategic Defense Initiative, wasn't it? ; )
Re:which raises the question... (Score:4, Insightful)
not even an advanced amateur.
Example:
Take an untrasound of a pregnant woman, pretty cool. move the transducer 1mm away from her abdomen, nothing.
This cuff works basically the same way. A weapon would have to work in a predominately similar way.
-nB
Oh, and even if it would work all cool like you speculate, you'd still need to aim it, else the freindly fire aspect will *suck*.
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For the ultrasonic thingie, you'll need skin contact, preferably improved by contact gel. It also takes a while to work, and requires the blood to be stagnant to work best (as in an internal injury. Intact veins are bad, on arteries it's pretty much impossible without frying the victim). "Hold still while I kill you." ?
Remember, this thing doesn't clot blood by ultrasound magic. It clots blood by heating it with focused ultrasound.
An ultrason
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Why ? The point of an assassination is to off the victim and prove that you can get away with it (as a warning to others). The more creative you are, the better.
Dying of a stroke because of a blood clot in the brain is much less suspicious The heating will cause tissue denaturation. Basically, an internal burn.
How about the ability to increase the area affected fairly easily?
To increase the affected area, you either need to increase the exposure time or the power of th
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I don't know about a military weapon to create bloodclots, but we already have medical machines that use soundwaves to kill cancer. Apparently they use three or more different soundwaves, aimed in such a way as to have them cross at the point you want to kill (the cancer), and when they cross they amplify to a lethal degree. Not only non-invasive but also nerd-errific!
Linky: High Intensity Focussed Ultrasound [google.com]
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Some information on overpressure from google http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=overpressure+ lethality&btnG=Google+Search [google.com]
The military at one time had enough VX nerve gas to kill a whole country and enough nukes to cook the bodies in their skin and
Natural death (Score:2)
I need these (Score:5, Funny)
I'll tie my smartshirt (worn under the bodysuit made of liquid body armor) into the HUD on the powered exoskeleton, which I can use to assist a long and high launch of my micro spy planes as I wait for resupply by my GT Max Mini Helicopter. When I have picked out my target, I'll glide in (again wearing liquid body armor) using my Gryphon flying wing, pick off the guards using my Cornershot rifle, rescue the hostage using my Swiss Army Pen, slap an ultrasonic bandage over his wounds, and then...
Erm...
OK, I'm out of gadgets. Someone wanna find me a personal rocket pack capable of carrying two?
Ubiquitous? (Score:2)
Damn, this irritates me (Score:4, Informative)
The main thing that was missing from Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers [imdb.com] was the powered exoskeletons, courtesy R.A.H. [wikipedia.org], circa 1959. Not that I didn't adore the "Doogie Howser, S.S.", "Klendathu 90210" aspects of the film, but the only really good example of the notion we've had in film is Ripley's "Get away from her, you bitch!" from Aliens [imdb.com].
Microwave ovens are from WWII radar (Score:5, Informative)
Presumably the author refers the the tube in a microwave oven called a magnetron. If so, then this was developed in World War II for use in radars. Incidentally, the invention of the transistor was a direct follow-on to WWII efforts to build crystal detectors. See the book, "The Invention that Changed the World" by Robert Buderi, a history of the development and aftermath of the invention of radar. It is said that the atomic bomb ended the war but radar won the war.
Bullet-Resistant vests: (Score:5, Insightful)
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If I have offended your sensibilities, then rate me as a troll.
If you have worn a bandana soaked in apple cider vinegar, have a friend who has broken ribs at a protest, or the like, then please moderate insightful.
I was/am excited about this technology, and have been for a while, for one reason: Protection. I see my nation enacting laws that truly frighten me. I want to be able to protect myself and my family if/when the offal hits the fan.
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What about my lawn? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What about my lawn? (Score:4, Funny)
part of this program already cut- landwarrior (Score:5, Informative)
Strange Title For Underwear (Score:4, Funny)
Making it only a matter of time before the phrase "Gear up" is replaced by "STF up!"
How about for vehicles (Score:2)
Maybe (Score:2)
The key thing I think they've failed to account for in all of this is that, if they're even a little smarter than the guards in Splinter Cell, people are somewhat likely to be alarmed enough by falling wings that they don't just go back to patrolling while
Libertarian countdown... (Score:3, Insightful)
Microwave ovens??? (Score:4, Informative)
the good side of military spending (Score:5, Insightful)
The bright side of military spending is that most of that money basically goes to putting food on the tables of tens of thousands of engineers in our country. With labor costs so high and manufacturing going to everywhere in the world other than our own country, technology is our stock-in-trade. As it turns out, the structure of the govt sponsoring military technology programs with a long-term and unified approach in contrast to the much more duplicative and reactive, smaller investments for shorter-term results, approach seen in the development of technology only in the hands of individual companies reacting to market pressures method, has been very fruitful indeed.
But wouldn't it be nice (Score:2)
I read something about how wonderful the advancements in prosthetics the past few years have been. I even saw a kid of 20 or 22 at the airport carrying a big green duffle bag unassisted, though he had artificial legs and a prosthetic arm and the unmistakable look of a soldier.
Just spend the money. Declare it to be a National Technological Development Something-or-other and so and spend the money on research that doesn't come at such a high
Re:But wouldn't it be nice (Score:4, Insightful)
I read something about how wonderful the advancements in prosthetics the past few years have been. I even saw a kid of 20 or 22 at the airport carrying a big green duffle bag unassisted, though he had artificial legs and a prosthetic arm and the unmistakable look of a soldier.
Just spend the money. Declare it to be a National Technological Development Something-or-other and so and spend the money on research that doesn't come at such a high cost.
Honestly, that shit is heartbreaking.
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The side that has more club-wielding people would win the war.
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"The nearly $440 billion defense budget contains $110.8 billion for military personnel, including a modest 2.2 percent pay increase, as well as $84.2 billion for weapons systems and $73.2 billion for research and development." [washingtonpost.com]
Considering how little soldiers get paid (starting at $1,204 per month [dod.mil]), and how much engineers get paid (~$3,500 per month starting), you start wondering who the Defense Department's priorities are...
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Most of my clients are defense contractors, which, I guess makes me a defense contractor. Anyway, around this time of year they like to put on a show of doing donation-drives "for the troops." They tend to fall into two categories - getting "comfort items" (like tons of instant coffee and phone card minutes
Re:the good side of military spending (Score:5, Interesting)
Active troop strength is something like 1.5 million, so by your estimate that's 45 million researchers bettering the world on the militaries dime. Almost 1 in 6 Americans are military funded scientists! Wow, I had no idea.
You'll forgive me if I take the rest of your rosy assesment with a little grain of salt?
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Why DARPA Does What Medical Industry Won't (Score:3, Informative)
I am particularly impressed... (Score:2)
Lets face it, all of this could have been developed faster and cheaper if we'd put the $350,000,000,000 spent in Iraq on civilian research.
As a deaf guy (Score:2)
Call me... (Score:2, Funny)
Tang (Score:2, Funny)
On a Chinese space shuttle, Tang is an astronaut.
Post innovation investment (Score:2)
Take an advancement and trace it's roots. It may have gone through the military's hands, but it will invariable have started either as a hobby (like flight) or in scientific academia (teh intarwebs). If a technology looks promising enough, the "military" (or the governing body that controls it) will invest heavily in it and advance it, but hardly, if ever, will it
Surprises and spin-offs. (Score:2)
Cancer chemotherapy. Brought to you by chemical warfare research.
Re:Clotthes will call for help in a health emergen (Score:3, Funny)
Just remember not to breathe yourself until the forensics arrive to avoir contaminating the sample...
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You know that DNA is separate molecules right? You realize they can be separated and isolated? If there's two dna's in a given sample the one that isn't the victim is the mugger. There should be enough DNA captured assuming obviously there is some sort of tussive to make the person cough.
Please. Do you really think a spray that makes the mugger cough (required, if you want DNA and not just water vapor) is a good idea? You're better off with pepper spray to disable him so he can't hurt you while you run away. Besides, even if it did work, what the fuck are the cops going to do with a DNA sample? Look it up in that secret DNA file the Men in Black have compiled on every person in the world?
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Besides, even if it did work, what the fuck are the cops going to do with a DNA sample? Look it up in that secret DNA file the Men in Black have compiled on every person in the world?
Yes. Everybody who's ever joined the military or been arrested has DNA on file. Everybody who had a parent who cared enough to do so has their hand and footprints (and likely DNA at this point) registered with the FBI (in case the kids go missing). I'm sure the new database they're building already has some fields for something along the lines of a DNA hash. We're getting pretty damned close to having that database already.
Re:Clotthes will call for help in a health emergen (Score:3, Funny)
(Police don't give a shit about catching some mugger. Do you really think they want a DNA sample?)
Hmm, should have looked further into that... (Score:2, Informative)
I searched "powered exoskeleton" on YouTube and found this [youtube.com] project from Berkley. I guess, if this is what the article was talking about, then the device would serve as more of a weight supporter than a strengthening tool. It also seems a bit too sluggish to execute a rapid maneuver like jumping, despite the BBC article in TFA claiming [bbc.co.uk] higher leaps is a goal. Would it end up hindering a troop in combat, considering the rapidity needed to move in today's guerrilla and urban warfare?
On the other hand, the
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More effective use of power for the purpose intended is something you see virtually everywhere - gears, levers, springs, virtually all mechanical devices that have ever existed are al
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However, you are
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The Tang meme (Score:2)
Absolutely correct. Tang is just powdered sugar, and has been available in supermarkets since 1959.
Sunglasses, smoke detectors, and cordless drills, however, ARE three spinoffs from the space program.
In fact, just about the only thing in our modern lives that doesn't trace back to either the space program or "big public science" (like the web coming from CERN) is Tang!
What is
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Some truth to that, but an overstatement. Automobiles -- almost entirely commercial development. The transistor -- Bell labs, likewise Unix. Antibiotics -- mostly commercial (but widespread availability of the second major antibiotic, penicillin, was made possible by the US Army)
OTOH. basic R&D for Jet aircraft (and the air