Dune weapons made real

[Mahdi]

Weirding module: Orange County Seriffs department has created a sonic gun much more accurate than an actual pistol which, when it hits its target, forces them to lose total control of there bodily functions (such as bowels), and forces them to collapse.

Ornithopters: The AA3X is a brand new luxuray airliner with wings that adjust themselves, much like a birds wings, in order to fly most effectively, and the edges themselves flap if needed.

[cyclonus]

Right...

[Guest Albatross]

To the ornithopter part.... yeah, most wings ARE adjustable, though only along one or two pieces. What you're talking about is one that has a finer level of control, although there is absolutely NO reason for them to 'flap'. First off, they aren't THAT maneuverable, it's just a series of adjustable flaps on the surface and edges that can be adjusted (and thus the airflow) to enhance their efficiency (more lift or less drag, etc) at varying speeds. The wings are not hinged and do not in any way 'flap'.

If it interests you, there ARE Ornithopters in reality.... but the biggest are no more than two feet long. Saw this one on TV, Ripley's, in fact, and this guy has designed several small toy ones that are extremely lightweight. However, their wings flap more like those of insects (the design is based on dragonfly wings, I believe) than birds.

I've seen info on that sonic weapon, too. It focuses extremely low frequency soundwaves. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the substance they have to travel through (air), it's got an extremely short effective range, and last time I checked, it was a continuous 'beam', requiring them to hold it on target for a set amount of time to achieve the desired effect. This means that moving quickly and jinking can generally prevent it from disabling you. Combine those two factors, and it becomes obvious a simple dart-gun with tranquilizers is still a more effective option... for now, anyway. Maybe after a few years of refinement they will be able to make it into a more useful weapon, but it's still cool that someone actually MADE something like that.

[Guest Some1]

you people are sad

[daniel]

very sad...........

[Acriku]

It's not sad, it is quite interesting. Especially the sonic gun (which should get the attention of Human Rights Activists, hehe), which should and hopefully will be adjusted for higher distance and quicker effect.

[parzival]

All the stuff I've seen with sonic weapons say they would function at a short range, but would easily go through a wall.

[salikadali]

I've heard that the military already has or is testing large scale versions of these sonic devices (sonic tanks?) that are functional at long distances, and effective on large groups (crowd control). microwaves? maybe,I guess that wouldn't be sonic then, oh well, but interesting

[Klobbersaurus414]

yep, lots of the weapons predicted in the book have come true. We have lasguns (though we dont use them) sonic weapons, and there are labs making not just movible winged aircraft, but actual ornithopters.