Randommization
As thoughts and philosophy go, I subscribe to the theory that everything has a purpose in life. In that belief, it would be okay to imagine that this laser gatling gun has a higher purpose than being a chunk of materials that throw light. Perhaps its true calling is the appearance of being a badass, and it wouldn’t be faring too poor in that department.
Lasers are set to be the future of war; why wait when you can hit someone at the speed of light. So are drones, and thus it makes perfect sense for both of them to meet in the battlefield. The US Navy has been working on its Laser Weapons System (LaWS) for a while now, honing it for future use. This time around, they set it towards a drone, and made it the first time the laser blew something off the sky. The video released by the navy shows a six-laser cannon pointed to a drone, eventually bringing the poor sucker down.
Via Gizmodo
The US Navy has been working to include lasers and ray guns in its arsenal, and a recent test shows they’ve been moving in the right direction. A solid state laser, the Maritime Laser Demonstrator was mounted aboard a decommissioned destroyer, the USS Paul Foster. A 15 kiloWatt beam was fired from the laser towards an inflatable boat, which the laser managed to put on fire. The laser isn’t exactly ready for use in war, but yes it looks like laser weapons will be the future.
The problem of space debris is serious, and it poses a serious threats to satellites and future space programs. Ergo, NASA has decided to build a big-ass laser to get rid of all this debris. It won’t zap the waste out, the laser will just slow them down enough so they lose their trajectory and fall under the influence of gravity. The laser would be powered at 5kW and would probably do its job well. Although we think the space debris is just an excuse for building a laser gun and shooting into space.
Via: TechnologyReview, Gearfuse
The marvels of DIY will continue to enthrall us, especially when its gems like this one. This DIY pulse laser gun is capable of generating one megawatt pulse of infrared light. With a range of approximately 3m, the gun can punch through a lazer blade or 5mm styrofoam. People, that’s the power of a megawatt of infrared light. Best of all, this is a compact package at 320mm long, and took Patrick 70 hours to complete.
Via: Hacked Gadgets, Dvice, Gizmodo
Lasers to pop popcorns, that’s how the cool kids do it these days. Or at least the cool kids with a hell lot of time on their hands, because popping a single kernel takes about a minute. It’s cool but we’re too impatient for this method.
Via: Geekologie
For whatever reason, Wouter Walmink decided to laser-cut a banana.
Via: BoingBoing
Fade Out is a visual display created using lasers to create glow-in-the-dark images. Generally, the laser is targeted on a screen created with photoluminescent paint. As the computer receives a digital image, it fires 405nm laser beams at the photoluminescent screen, creating pixels of glowing green light. The system may be used for entertainment and advertising, and is being tested for irregular surfaces, like human faces, which makes people look like zombies.
Via: PinkTentacle
In the image here, the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory is shooting a laser into the skies. The object is to create an “artificial star” 56 miles above the Earth. It is a method called Laser Guide Star (LGS), which allows the observatory to get better images. The laser excites sodium atoms in the upper layers of the atmosphere, creating the artificial star, which is used as a reference to correct the blurring effect the atmosphere may be having on images taken by the Very Large Telescope (VLT) array.
