Researchers have figured out that they can modify existing electromagnetic pulse technology and use it to cut hard steels about seven times faster than with a laser and at only a fraction of the cost of other methods. That's not even the crazy part though:

The impact pressure [of the pulse] on the steel is approximately 3,500 bar, which equates to the weight of three small cars on a single fingernail.

Three cars on a single fingernail. Three cars. One fingernail. Forget cool buzzing sounds from mechanical tools and the pewpewpew of lasers. That description alone makes this the coolest cutting method I've heard of today. [Phys Org]

Photo by Gerald Edwards

The key, apparently, is size. Older HPMs were too long to be deployed, but the one that went into testing last week at a military facility in Huntsville, Alabama ("The Rocket City") is five feet long and just six inches thick. "It's a big deal," Edl Schamiloglu, an EE professor at University of New Mexico told IEEE Spectrum. "The military would be able to actually use these."

The weapon in testing will reach peak power of 35 megawatts for just 100 to 150 nanoseconds, pulsing out a microwave beam that covers 2GHz to 6GHz frequencies. There goes your Wi-Fi, and maybe your cellphone too.

The coolest thing about the bomb is its key power component, the "flux compression generator." Not only does it have a name that clearly was given to it by Dr. Emmet Brown, but one of the Texas Tech researchers developing the thing had this to say about it: "The FCG is like a battery that runs on a stick of dynamite"—well, C4 actually, but we get the picture. Big ba-da-boom.

If you're electrically inclined, be sure to soak up the more seductively nerdy details of this 21st-century ordnance at IEEE Spectrum. [IEEE Spectrum via Gizmag]

The crux of IAN's breakthrough is a new shielding technology that encloses a small room (or trailer, as seen in the pic), and blocks the harmful, tech-frying effects of an EMP. The shielding is comprised of electrically isolated layers of steel and aluminum, and weighs 70% less than what the military uses today for blocking EMP bursts.

The "microgrid" concept arrives when you stick a generator or two inside these portable safe houses. Connect a few together and you have a microgrid, which Charles Manto, president of IAN, says can "easily power the city of Annapolis, a hospital, or the University of Maryland campus. The idea is to create islands of power to reduce the cascading effects of a wide-scale failure."

Better yet, IAN designed the microgrids to be powered by renewable energy sources, like wind and solar. The End Times will be tough, it seems, but at least they'll be green. [MarketWatch]

The fear is that a king-sized EMP generated from a nuclear blast detonated in the sky could send this country back to the stone age. Even if the possibility of such a scenario occurring is remote, the Navy doesn't want to take chances. If all goes well, the generator is expected to be completed sometime in 2010. [Defense Industry Daily via Danger Room]

• An electromagnetic pulse should be around by 2035, enabling baddies to take down all electronic equipment in a city in one fell swoop.
• Neutron weapons that can destroy human organs without damaging surrounding buildings could be used for "extreme ethnic cleansing in an increasingly populated world." Yeah, that'll be around by 2035 as well.
• Information chips that can be implanted directly into the brain should also be around by 2035.
• The immediate and widespread dissemination of information will enable terrorists and criminal groups to organize "flashmobs," large groups of people that appear to come out of nowhere all at once.

Also: huge class divisions making Marxism more popular, a Middle Eastern population boom, an Islamic war on China, and increased global warming. Now who wants ice cream? –Adam Frucci

Revolution, flashmobs, and brain chips. A grim vision of the future [Guardian via Slashdot]