Woah, I gotta get me one of these babies... as soon as they fix the operating range. Just imagine the possibilities...."HSV Technologies of California (where else?) has announced a working prototype of a laser weapon which can instantly (but temporarily) immobilise humans or animals at a range of 100 metres. The research company will shortly license the technology to approved manufacturers, and you can expect police forces across the world to be equipped with this high-tech weaponry within a couple of years.
At the moment, the best non-lethal weapons available to the American police are Tasers - short-ranged electric devices - and pepper spray. This new development gives a more effective option to officers who want to arrest a suspect without lethal force - which can only be a good thing in the gun-happy States. The technology works by ionising two corridors of air to the target, then passing a current along the free electrons. The current passes through clothing, and needs only touch a small part of the body for it to affect the system. By imitating normal nerve impulses, it instructs the larger, stringy muscles to contract but not relax, as would be normal - this is known as tetanisation. Consequently, you would be unable to move your arms, hands, fingers, legs, neck, chest or back - but you would still be able to breathe and your heart would be uninterrupted, because those muscles use different frequencies. Once the beam is taken off the victim - sorry, suspect - normal movement returns after a few seconds, and there are no apparent after-effects at this stage. There's even no damage to the eyes, which only suffer irritation after the beams have been pointed directly at them for several minutes - an unlikely operational situation. While the known effective range is around 100 metres at the moment, it's likely that ranges of up to 2,000 metres will be possible.
Similar technology is being used to develop a system which shuts down car engines, enabling officers to end car chases immediately and with far less danger to life and property. While there are the usual concerns about this technology falling into the wrong hands, there is perhaps more danger from a mischievous user than international terrorists. Imagine a disillusioned teenager freezing his Geography teacher while crossing a busy road..."
got this off : http://www.pcformat.co.uk/news/detail.asp?id=26181
but the boffins who came up with it live at : http://www.hsvt.org/
God, the future is here.
