The MIT engineers used nanotech to measure the thickness of a single scale (about 500 millionths of a meter thick), and decipher the makeup of its four different layer materials. They discovered that the materials, in tandem with the geometry and thickness of each layer, all contributed to a pretty amazing suit of armor.

They even tested the armor plating by "biting" scales that had been surgically removed from a living fish. What they discovered then was that P. senegalus armor will probably replace the bulky ceramic plates that adorn our fighting men and women in warzones today.

The P. senegalus armor kept the crack localized by forcing it to run in a circle around the penetration site, rather than spreading through the entire scale and leading to catastrophic failure, like many ceramic materials.

Lighter, thinner, and better? I think with those kinds of results soldiers and law enforcement officials alike could probably turn a blind eye to the fishy smell. Either that, or baking soda just became the next indispensable item in their arsenal next to bulletproof vests. [MIT]

Here is the XM982 Excalibur precision-guided artillery projectile. Soldiers are able to program map grid coordinates into an Excalibur round and use GPS to guide it to target with pinpoint accuracy.
The Objective Gunner Protection Kit (OGPK) is a motorized, rotating turret mounted on top of Humvees and MRAP vehicles. According to the Army it offers protection from IED fragmentation and small-arms fire, includes transparent armor, a sling for the gunner, and super handy rear-view mirrors.
The HMMWV Egress Assistance Trainer (that's better known as "Humvee") is a mockup of a Hummer's cabin, and can be spun around to simulate an upended vehicle. Soldiers use this invention to practice disembarking from damaged or overturned vehicles before they're deployed. [CNET]

The Gadget: Case-mate's Clear Armor film for the iPhone, iPod touch, iPod classic (80GB and 160GB) or BlackBerry Curve protects against scratches using a military-grade Scotchgard film from 3M.

The Price: $19.99

The Verdict: Yes, yes, we know that the 3G iPhone is here, but if you are anything like me and on the fence about upgrading, Case-mate's Clear Armor will do a good job of protecting against scratches while preserving the natural beauty of your original iPhone, iPod or BlackBerry Curve. However, there is some major bullshit involved with their advertising campaign that put me off. First of all, Clear Armor is basically the same thing that Zagg has been selling for years under the name Invisible Shield. The difference is Zagg uses their own nano-memoryTM technology instead of 3M. However, Case-mate has tried to differentiate by relying on gimmicks like throwing a BlackBerry Curve 8300 wrapped in Clear Armor into a blender to demonstrate its durability. As Giz reader Shaun and others pointed out in the comments on the original Clear Armor post, it appears that the BlackBerry used in the demo is absolutely caked in this stuff.

The other issue I came across involved the application of Clear Armor. The video on the site makes it seem as though it is easy to pull the film off the backing before applying—but the reality is that nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, using my gigantic man-hands I managed to tear off the portion of the film that covers the top of the phone on both sets of rear films. All I can say is that it is a good thing that each set of front and back films comes in doubles, because you will probably need them both to get it right. In retrospect, I probably should have used a pair of tweezers or an X-Acto knife to ensure that I got the film off in one piece.

Again, the technology behind Clear Armor is great. I mustered up enough courage to scratch my keys along the back of my iPhone and it came away completely unscathed. However, if you were foolish enough to put your phone into a blender wrapped in a single layer of this stuff, I can guarantee that it would not survive the beating. That having been said, my advice is to stick with Invisible Shield. They offer a lifetime guarantee on their product, they protect a wider range of devices and they are already taking pre-orders for a 3G iPhone version. [case-mate]

Case-mate's Clear Armor is available now for $19.99. It may not have been released in time for the iPhone case Battlemodo, but look for a review soon. [case-mate]

The device works by mixing two different artificial spider silk proteins and a phosphate salt, then squirting them out of the artificial glass spinneret. This produces long protein chains that form the artificial silk. It's the first device that accurately copies the chemistry and physical processes that are found in nature, as well as being the first to mix two silk proteins (specifically, ADF3 and ADF4 from the European garden spider).

For the time being the quality doesn't yet match real silk, since it appears too grainy. "The major breakthrough is that this is the first time one has produced fully synthetic silk threads and understood why," says team-leader Professor Bausch. The team believes that when they copy the drying and drawing-out stages real spiders use then its quality will be up to scratch. They're working to perfect the synthetic silk machine, but cannot reveal how as they're in the middle of patent applications.

Why the excitement? Well, light spider silk bullet-proof vests and strong medical suture thread is just the start. The material is also known to help in the re-growth of nerves, has been used to encapsulate drugs and make biodegradable fishing line. So large quantities of spider silk might be very useful, and "the best thing is to reproduce nature, instead of cutting open spiders," notes Prof Bausch. That's something that I'm sure will go down well with the horrible creepy-crawlies themselves. [New Scientist and The Telegraph]

• Panasonic 150" Plasma TV: It's called March Madness for a reason. With as many as 16 games to watch each day, don't you think you should be watching them in style? Also, we figure you could probably rig this baby to show all the games at once, but you should probably stay far away so you didn't get any drool on the screen.

• Philips Prestigo Remote Control: Buzzer-beaters are the name of the game when it comes to college basketball, and you never know when that history-making play could happen. Do yourself a favor, and get one of the biggest remotes money can buy. Program the buttons to switch between games, and that way you'll never miss a shot. Too bad there isn't a SAP button to have Gus Johnson calling every play.

• Hoverit Maglev Couch: Since you will likely spend an incredible amount of time in front of the television over the next four weeks, you should definitely have a comfortable place to sit. This couch is the ultimate technology statement next best thing, hovering above its base using magnets. Though it may not have the requisite beer holder, it gets bonus points for looking like the seat we'll use when Combat Basketball becomes a real sport.

Beer Robot: Speaking of beer, that staple beverage is a crucial part of any sporting event (assuming you aren't playing), but who knows what you may miss if you step away from the couch? This beer robot comes in handy, delivering a cold one straight to you so you never have to take your eyes off of the screen.

• NCAA March Madness On Demand: For those of you who forgot to call in sick to work, we feel your pain. But fear not, because you can watch the games right from the comfort of your desk. The NCAA is streaming the action over the web, but you better get log in early; the last time we checked, we were #141,782 in line to watch.

• Basketball PC: If you are one of the unfortunate ones stuck watching the games from a PC, you might as well use this basketball PC-mod and show your coworkers where your heart is really focused. However, as enticing as it may look, please do not try to dribble the computer.

• D3O Body Armor: Who hasn't had a gambling mishap or two? What with arbitrary spreads, unexpected injuries and Cinderella stories, you can't expect to win them all. Our bookie Frankie didn't seem to get that message though, and he didn't appreciate our repeated cries to pay him next Tuesday. Well, we won't be making that mistake any more, next time we see Frankie we'll be loaded up with this D3O body armor. Suddenly those baseball bat attacks will feel just like hugs.

• Offshore Bookie: Just because we aren't dealing with Frankie doesn't mean we have lost our insatiable appetite for risky betting. Luckily there are plenty of offshore betting websites to choose from. We have never tried these ourselves of course, but we hear that there's one good one involving some guy named Bo. Thankfully, their concept of credit is a bit different than old Frankie's.

Bonus:
• Palm-sized Cellphone Jammer: I wish I could time-travel back with this particular device to Bloomington, Indiana, a year or so ago, and stick it in Kelvin Sampson's desk. See, I graduated from IU, and I'm pretty disappointed with the way our great season went sour. All it took was a few (thousand) text messages from Coach Sampson. If your favorite coach has an addiction to text messages, I recommend you buy one of these and put it to use.

That's why the press brought in this guy. [breitbart via digg]

The chest and legs are definitely different, featuring more textured armor and probably some other defensive gizmos we don't know about yet. The cowl also looks a bit changed as well. And since you couldn't tell over the Internet, we squealed like little girls while we were writing this post.

Click for larger Batman.

– Jason Chen

Holy Dark Knight! Check Out Batman's New Suit! [Ifitsmovies]

But what good is a beefed-up Mac if you don't have equally tough peripherals? You can also pick up tough-as-nails keyboards, monitors, mice or even speakers. No word on pricing, but expect a decent price jump for a Mini that could beat you up.– Ben Longo

Thermaltake [Press Release]

High-Tech Uniforms Finally Heading to War [via Defense Tech]

SLR Camera Armor [LetsGoDigital]

In their current tests, they found this liquid armor is best used when painted onto current Kevlar armor in thin layers. The company wants to make the new liquid armor available for police departments, the military, and prison guards. It can protect guards from a shivving, something their current vests and armor can't.

This new armor type is cheaper than traditional fiber armor to manufacture, so we're dreaming of one day coating all underwear in this stuff—making groin hits a thing of the past. – Jason Chen

Body Armor Fit For A Superhero [BusinessWeek]

"If the unit commander has the information about which team members are walking, running, standing, prone, kneeling, and/or firing weapons, he will be able to make well informed critical decisions based on a significantly better understanding of the situation at any given time. Even with the lack of physiological monitoring, these data could indicate potential causalities (e.g., prone, no movement, not firing). Additionally, direction of enemy, ammunition depletion, and severity of enemy engagements could be ascertained."

They were also thinking about attaching something to a soldier's tongue which is even grosser. A fascinating work-around for information overload. – John Biggs

Set Cammos to Vibrate [DefenseTech]

Armoured suits are 'too goofy' say US troops [Telegraph.co.uk]

Its UK developer doesn't want to give away d3o's exact chemical ingredients, but they do say that the material's properties make it just as effective as conventional (and bulky) armor skiers use to protect themselves from slalom poles. It's also being released in products like goal keeper mitts and polo kneepads. The kicker? In the future, the same material could be used for a host of other various applications, such as sound proofing... or the purposefully-vague "flexible ballistic protection."

US and Canadian Skiers get smart armour [ NewScientist.com]

Better than glass and extremely light weight, ALONtm is scratch resistent, impact resistent and has so far held its own against a .30 caliber Russian M-44 sniper rifle and a .50 caliber Browning Sniper Rifle with armor piercing bullets. But here's the rub—traditional armor is about $3 per square inch while the transparent armor is a whopping $10-$15 for the same amount. It's also more expensive to manufacture the new armor, so we'll see how long it takes our fair country to get this stuff up and out.

Air Force testing new transparent armor [Air Force Link]

Update: Here's the real story. This guy's 2-day old iPod got crushed during a commuter train ride. The face plate cracked and the stainless steel back was even dented. Rush hour train rides in Japan create murderous pressure on an iPod because you get shoved and packed into the cabins. That gave him the idea to build this armored aluminum case to protect it. He even gives the specs to replicate the design here: http://homepage.mac.com/sideriver/cubesite/zuko/iPodcase.pdf

[Thanks Phil and Didier!]

Armor plate for iPod Photo [Project Page]