Surprising Science — May 7, 2010

Lasers of War

Northrop Grumman is testing a high-powered, lightweight laser that can be used by U.S. soldiers in combat settings. Use of lasers on the battlefield could change warfare significantly.

bigthinkeditor

Northrop Grumman is testing a high-powered laser that can be used by U.S. soldiers in combat settings. The “nd:YAG” laser is powerful enough to inflict damage, but it is made out of the materials are compact and transportable. The military has long wanted to develop lasers for the battlefield; they are precise, fast, and they don’t run out of ammo (as long as you have power).

a computer generated image of a human brain.

Thinking

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

High Culture

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

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7 min

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with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

Up Next

Surprising Science

Time and Again

By creating the first theoretical model of a wormhole 75 years ago, Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen allowed science-fiction writers to consider the idea of time travel, writes Dave Goldberg.