--- begin forwarded text Resent-Date: Thu, 13 Nov 1997 12:56:52 -0500 From: glen@substance.abuse.blackdown.org To: 0xdeadbeef@substance.abuse.blackdown.org Cc: bostic@bsdi.com Subject: Set Phasers to Stun. Date: Thu, 13 Nov 1997 12:56:48 -0500 Sender: glen@shell.ncm.com Resent-From: 0xdeadbeef@substance.abuse.blackdown.org X-Mailing-List: <0xdeadbeef@substance.abuse.blackdown.org> archive/latest/2463 X-Loop: 0xdeadbeef@substance.abuse.blackdown.org Precedence: list Resent-Sender: 0xdeadbeef-request@substance.abuse.blackdown.org Forwarded-by: Mark Stewart <mark@ps.cus.umist.ac.uk> Forwarded-by: DarkTrick <dan@coromir.demon.co.uk> 1 NS 01 Nov 97 SET PHASERS TO SHOCK . . . (358) By PAUL GUINNESSY Real life is catching up with Star Trek. Hans Eric Herr from San Diego,California, has been granted a patent for a 'phaser' that uses laser light to stun or kill. Crude stun weapons called tasers are already available in the US. The weapons fire two small darts attached to a wire. A pulsing electrical current passes down the wire and stuns the victim by 'tetanisation'. The pulses make the muscles of the victim contract in unison, rendering them helpless. The disadvantages of tasers are that they can only be fired once before they have to be reloaded. They are also classified as firearms because they fire projectiles. One attempt to overcome the limitations of tasers uses a stream of liquid that hits a victim with a 10 000-volt charge. This causes painful muscle spasms in the victim. But the liquid can split into droplets, breaking the electrical connection, and is hard to aim. Herr's invention uses lasers to generate intense beams of ultraviolet light. These create a path of ionised air down which precisely modulated electrical current is sent. The currents can be manipulated to cause painful contractions, stun a victim painlessly, or induce a heart attack. It has a far longer range than the taser-over 100 metres-and the beam can penetrate clothing. The phaser can also fire many shots before it needs reloading. Using ultraviolet light avoids legal restrictions on weapons that blind with laser light, since it would take several minutes to damage the retina with the wavelength of light used by the device. A hand-held version of the phaser is not yet available because the argon-fluoride discharge-pumped excimer laser it uses is as big as a kitchen table. Herr is hoping that others will find ways to make his device smaller and more powerful, as well as improve its range. He says that any technically competent person would be able to build a phaser. Steve Aftergood, a senior research analyst at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, says: 'At first glance it seems incredible, and rather disturbing.' New Scientist Volume 156. Issue 2106. --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com), Philodox e$, 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' The e$ Home Page: http://www.shipwright.com/ Ask me about FC98 in Anguilla!: <http://www.fc98.ai/>