*Pew pew pew*

Yes, that's right. Laser beams. They're out there, in working condition, being tested on military vessels, proposed to be fully operational in about six years.

The future in fact is not far away at all. Raytheon released a recent video depicting a test of their Phalanx and LaWS (Laser Weapon System). The test reveals a UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) flying through the air for short time before literally bursting into flame and crashing down into the ocean. The LaWS is made up of six solid-state lasers simultaneously focusing 32 kilowatts of power onto a single target.

While it seems like science fiction becoming reality, the truth is that lasers have actually been in use by the military for years. In 2006, tests were done in which a laser destroyed a static mortar. In 2008, the test was successfully performed on an incoming mortar. However, shooting down UAVs over a moist environment such as the ocean has been a daunting challenge says Mike Booen, vice president of Raytheon's Advanced Security and Directed Energy Systems line. This new and improved version of the in-use land-based version of the Phalanx (in use in Iraq since 2005) will be ready to equip the Navy by the year 2016. Even more incredible is that the laser runs only off of electricity, and thus cannot run out of ammo as long as it has a current.

There was once a time where gun powder seemed like science fiction. Now science has progressed so far that even laser beams are not uncommon in society. Perhaps satellite warfare will be next, or terraforming. Cloning has been making huge leaps in recent years. Ideas such as Jurassic Park may not be far from reach, and soon after space travel may be a factor. it seems that truly, the only thing stopping man from reaching the infinite is not physics, resources, or other limitations, but simply the passing of time.

Plus, LASERS.

Unfortunately there was no embed link, so hopefully this will do.

Hopes

Technology as others have stated has pros and cons. Cons would be we sometimes rely on them heavily and often take them for granted. The pros are obvious, it has simplified many daily tasks in life like automation and time consuming tasks. Without all the help technology provides it would make advancement in our society much slower than the current rate. Some might argue we are progressing too fast because we cannot sustain ourselves.

Recently we have been turning to technology/ science to figure out how to reverse the damage we have done to the climate. Originally we thought we could slow down the amount of pollution we are putting into the air, but after this was apparent it wouldn't work on its own. Many more countries recently have been prospering and their people are using more and polluting, and the government of those countries has to control those emissions just as the U.S has policies in place to limit its emissions.

Some ideas that have been thought up of how to combat global warning: "injecting sulfur dioxide
aerosols"
fertilize the open oceans with iron
"giant reflective helium balloons"
"putting sunshades above the Earth to reflect sunlight"
From: Global Warming: Technology vs. Choice

Some of these ideas are far from ordinary but innovation is what our society thrives on. Even if we can use science to create a way to help reverse what we have done to the climate/atmosphere it still comes down to our behavior as people. The solution sound simple, change our behavior when it comes to things like this. In reality that is extremely difficult and it again is one of those things a lot of people take for granite. It good take a whole generation or some type of event for people to wake up .


Citation:
Leech, Eric. "Global Warming: Technology vs. Choice." TreeHugger. 30 May 2009. Web. 06 Sept. 2010. .

Future Science and technology - Where will it bring us?

As time goes on the human race is continuously making new discoveries that teach us more and more about the world we live in. But where will we end up and how much will we learn? The future is something that no one is sure about. Science is mans only explanation for how the universe and everything in it works, yet there are so many unanswered questions. But is this a bad thing? Can we know too much or will our knowledge always be valuable?

One area of science that many people find worrisome is that of cloning. The ability to clone opens up so many options for science. Scientists hope to be able to clone organs to be used in transplants, something that many people would appreciate immensely. Researchers also hope to be able to clone certain animals to perform research on. These animals would be identical, creating a very stable research specimen. But what about the abuse of cloning? Things like overpopulation are huge fears in the eyes of almost everyone. Thomas W. Clark writes a letter to the editor of the new your times on this issue. He writes:

"Instead of rejecting therapeutic cloning as the first step on a slippery slope to eugenics, Mr. McKibben and other concerned progressives should draw the line where it really belongs: to prohibit applications of biotechnology that serve no curative purpose."

So what is the right move? Do scientists continue to research cloning and potentially discover something that could save countless lives yet also open the doors for disaster or do they halt their research because of the fear of disaster. This controversy is one that is happening in all different fields of science and one that needs to be addressed. Whatever happens, it is sure to be quite the roller coaster ride.




1. Clark, Thomas W. "Fear of Cloning - Letter - NYTimes.com." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. 02 Apr. 2002. Web. 04 Sept. 2010. .

2. "Bennett Cartoon Archive: Human Cloning." The Cartoons of Clay Bennett. Web. 04 Sept. 2010. .