Sonic Weapons - fiction becomes reality
Posted by martinmetz 7 years, 3 months ago to Science
Once again, Ayn Rand fiction becomes reality with the use of a sonic weapon on embassy personnel in Cuba.
Sonic weapons in several variants use sound to damage, injure, incapacitate, or kill a target. They are currently in limited use or in research and development by the military and law enforcement agencies. Some of these weapons remain in the realm of science fiction, but have been described as sonic bullets, sonic grenades, sonic mines, or sonic cannons.
U.S. officials disclosed publicly in August 2017 that as many as 10 Americans were struck by a mystery illness believed to be caused by a covert sonic device in what many think was a clandestine operation targeting U.S. personnel stationed in the communist country. The manifested symptoms associated with the sonic attack worsen with prolonged exposure and include severe hearing loss. The attacks are believed to have begun around December 2016, but it is difficult to pinpoint exactly when the problems began and how many incidents may have occurred.
Rand’s Atlas Shrugged referred to Project X that grew out of the earlier work by Robert Stadler, PhD, who became Director of the State Science Institute. Stadler had done pioneering work in the physics of sound presumably while he was Chairman of the Physics Department at the fictitious Patrick Henry University. The nature of Robert Stadler's work is never explained in the narrative, but recent real-life work in acoustical science has resulted in a device capable of delivering a coherent "beam" of ultrasonic sound.
Ayn Rand has once again shown a prescience to the technical and political situation well beyond her time.
http://freebeacon.com/national-securi...
Sonic weapons in several variants use sound to damage, injure, incapacitate, or kill a target. They are currently in limited use or in research and development by the military and law enforcement agencies. Some of these weapons remain in the realm of science fiction, but have been described as sonic bullets, sonic grenades, sonic mines, or sonic cannons.
U.S. officials disclosed publicly in August 2017 that as many as 10 Americans were struck by a mystery illness believed to be caused by a covert sonic device in what many think was a clandestine operation targeting U.S. personnel stationed in the communist country. The manifested symptoms associated with the sonic attack worsen with prolonged exposure and include severe hearing loss. The attacks are believed to have begun around December 2016, but it is difficult to pinpoint exactly when the problems began and how many incidents may have occurred.
Rand’s Atlas Shrugged referred to Project X that grew out of the earlier work by Robert Stadler, PhD, who became Director of the State Science Institute. Stadler had done pioneering work in the physics of sound presumably while he was Chairman of the Physics Department at the fictitious Patrick Henry University. The nature of Robert Stadler's work is never explained in the narrative, but recent real-life work in acoustical science has resulted in a device capable of delivering a coherent "beam" of ultrasonic sound.
Ayn Rand has once again shown a prescience to the technical and political situation well beyond her time.
http://freebeacon.com/national-securi...
