Scary, 1984 Reloaded.
Beaming sounds into your head: “MEDUSA (Mob Excess Deterrent Using Silent Audio) is a device that uses microwave pulses to beam sound directly into someone’s head. In development by the Sierra Nevada Corporation originally under a US Navy contract, MEDUSA can apparently fill your head with incapacitating ‘shockwaves’ or possibly even whispered messages. From New Scientist:
(Researcher Lev) Sadovnik says the technology could have non-military applications. Birds seem to be highly sensitive to microwave audio, he says, so it might be used to scare away unwanted flocks.
Sadovnik has also experimented with transmitting microwave audio to people with outer ear problems that impair their normal hearing.
Microwave sound beam (New Scientist, more at Danger Room)
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(Via Boing Boing.)
The US Navy has long been fending off complaints from marine groups, because the noise pollution from sonar pings adversely affects whale populations. I guess it’s inevitable that someone would put two and two together and say, hey, we can weaponize this!
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the new telecom spy bill is even more 1984ish than this.
but anyway, this is another similar weapon that was featured on Discovery channel:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Denial_System
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