Gizmodo: gamma rays

Lacoste Targeting System Doesn't Use Lenses, Polo Shirts

Jesus Diaz — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 11:00:00 EDT

Defense company Qinetiq is working in a targeting system that won't use any optics whatsoever. Based on the technology used to capture gamma bursts in space, the Lacoste— Large Area Coverage Optical Search While Track and Engage—project will use multiple sensors arranged behind a randomly-punctured mask and signal processing software, which will make it shock-resistant and very light.

The imaging system is used by NASA on board their Swift satellite , which is dedicated to spot gamma bursts. They got rid of the optics to make it lighter and more durable, thanks to the lack of optics and mirrors. The sensor redundancy also makes it error-proof: there are thousands of them, so if one gets damaged, the image will maintain its quality.

Other than its durability, the system can track thousands of vehicles at any time, and even has a "super resolution" mode that allows to produce a very detailed image of any sector in its field of view. [BBC News]

Snuggle Up to the Looming Nuclear Apocalypse with RST's Gamma Ray-Fighting "Miracle Material"

Jack Loftus — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 21:00:00 EDT

If Radiation Shield Technologies' Demron fabric pans out, maybe our dystopian, radiation-soaked future won't be so bad after all. At the very least, we'll be toasty—and fashionable too! RST says the fabric (available in full body suits, blankets, gloves and boots) protects against particle ionizing/nuclear radiation, and shields against X-ray and low-energy Gamma emissions. The crazy thing is it does it all without any lead inserts, which next to a few inches of solid concrete are currently most effective defense against radiation poisoning. Instead, the material uses a proprietary nanotechnology to block a host of biological, chemical and radioactive sources. The material is damn heavy too; a 36” x 30” blanket weighs approximately 60 lbs. [RST via Danger Room]

Kick-Ass Death Ray on the Way, Uses Antimatter

Charlie White — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 10:15:32 EDT

Those mad scientists are at it again. David Cassidy and Allen Mills, a couple of propellerheads at the University of California, Riverside are using the stuff of science fiction, antimatter, to create gamma ray lasers they say could be a million times more powerful than the lasers we're using to watch Blu-ray discs. It's done by creating an atom called positronium that contains otherwise unstable antimatter particles that are the opposite of electrons, called positrons. This is where things start getting interesting, paving the way to a mofo laser.

When you can magically combine two of those positronium suckers, you get a molecule that sounds like it's made by Sony, called PS2. When PS2 decays, that's when super-powerful bursts of those awesome gamma rays are released, capable of smacking down anything in sight. So this must be that all-powerful and dangerous ray gun running through science fiction stories for the past 100 years. Or is it more like a phaser? Either way, yeah, it's all working with positronium. We're not making this up. [NewScientistTech]