Cleaning the monuments of ancient Greece is not as simple as a sandblast. There are layers of black soot deposits that must be destroyed, yes, but there's also the orange-brown "patina" layer (common on many Greek monuments), a layer of gypsum, and a coating of calcium carbonate, all of which include original tooling traces that the Acropolis Restoration Service wants to preserve. And the black soot crust has different chemical components of varying tenacity and thickness, which means one size doesn't fit all when it comes to scrubbing these buildings.

That is, until scientists at Crete's Foundation for Research & Technology hit upon the idea of laser cleaning. From 2002 to 2005, technicians blasted the West Frieze of the Parthenon with lasers in both the ultraviolet and infrared spectrums. They controlled the wavelength, the energy density, and the number of pulses of the laser used in each region, making sure that they cleaned off only the black soot deposits and left the original structural details intact. Using combined infrared and ultraviolet lasers, they could also correct any discoloration that appeared in the marble as a result of earlier cleaning. It was a slow job, too; workers could only use the lasers for 2 hours a day before eye strain became a serious issue.

These new photos from Reuters show the beginning of the next step of the process: the application of this laser cleaning technology to the Porch of the Maidens at the temple Erechtheum. The Acropolis Restoration Service expects to finish this job in about a year.

Images from Reuters.

Greek scientists use lasers to clean Acropolis [Reuters]
The Cleaning of the Parthenon West Frieze by Means of Combined IR- and UV- Radiation [SpringerLink]

Once each year, the Office of Naval Research holds a conference where they explain what they're currently working on. This year, the ONR detailed several weapons systems that seem like they were lifted straight out of your favorite military sci-fi novel.

Solid state fiber lasers could be mounted in "pods" on aircraft, able to deliver 100 kW blasts. Free Electron Lasers will begin development in 2010, and will hopefully have the ability to take out incoming ordinance or even small attack (or suicide) boats. The lasers don't stop there - helicopters could be equipped with laser terrain finding gear to help them land in "brownout" conditions.

Lasers not sexy enough? How about directed microwave weapons? I've been dreaming of one of these for years, to take out the thumping audio systems of cars that drive past my house. The Navy would rather use them to fry the electronics in enemy equipment.

The ultimate naval weapon might be the hyper-velocity railgun. It could propel projectiles up to 230 miles with killer accuracy at speeds close to Mach 7. The Navy holds a world record for "highest electromagnetic muzzle energy launch of a projectile" using such a weapon. I have no idea what that means, but I know I wouldn't want to get hit by one. These megaguns aren't without their flaws, though. That kind of muzzle velocity tends to destroy the barrel of the gun, and each firing draws something like three million amps. Image by: U.S. Navy.

Navy Wants Lots of Lasers [Defense Tech]

By sending out pulses of infrared light, the Oak Ridge laser system can pick up clues about the composition of the materials surrounding it. When the light pulses hit objects, they refract off of those objects, and some of the light is directed back at the laser system itself. Quartz crystals in the laser system transform these light pulses into a full picture of the chemical composition of the objects you want to check out. If the object's activation profile contains chemical signatures of known explosives, you've identified your bomb.

Using this technique, the researchers' laser gun might eventually be used to detect the chemical signatures that exist in spoiled food. One day, you might have a small laser in your cell phone, which you can whip out at the grocery store to get the best possible produce. As laser technology improves, so will this system; researchers are hoping that sensitivity will go through the roof as cost and size shrink accordingly. Three cheers for not exploding, and for always finding the greenest banana of the lot!

Ray Gun Detects Bombs at Distance [Discovery Channel]

Image of ray gun by ImageZoo

According to a release from Oregon State University, where some of the research took place:

While using fluorescence to illuminate organic material has been done for decades, light sources were too large and unwieldy to use for a robotic mission to another planet, said [researcher Michael] Storrie-Lombardi. However, new generations of light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, are very small, reliable and energy efficient, he added.

"Placed on a Mars rover, one of these LEDs positioned a few centimeters from a target can easily provide enough light to produce fluorescence in small polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons," Storrie-Lombardi said. "But even more encouraging is the very recent development of a small 375 nanometer laser diode that can illuminate anything a PanCam can see, including geological layers and crevices high up on an otherwise inaccessible rock outcrop."

Added [U.K. scientist Jan-Peter] Muller: "This laser is now undergoing rigorous tests in the laboratory under Mars-like conditions prior to showing that it is flight-ready, even at this late stage, to be seriously considered to be launched in only five years' time."

The instrument appears to be "an ideal initial survey tool," Storrie-Lombardi pointed out.

"It requires no sample preparation, does not destroy sample material and requires only electrical power to operate, conserving precious water and other consumable resources for sister instruments," he said.

I'm waiting for a USB version of the device to attach to my laptop or mobile. You never know where you might need to scan for lifeforms.

Laser fluorescence could find life on Mars [via Eurekalert]

Boeing calls it the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL). It fires from a belly-mounted rotating turret mounted to a modified C-130H cargo plane. On May 13, the chemical laser was tested on the ground. Soon, they'll advance to actual air-to-ground testing against fake targets. No actual test data or specifications for the laser (or the damage it can do) have been released.

The problem with laser weapons is that they are heavy and bulky. Until they get a lot lighter, there's not much chance that a bomber squadron is going to replace a bunch of payload with one of these things, unless it's for public relations. Not that it isn't nice to see the military developing super advanced weapons so they kill fewer people. No word if the lasers will be Cobra Blue or G.I. Joe Red. Original Image by: U.S. Navy.

Laser Blaster Gunship Closer to Flight Test. [Defense Tech]

Physicist Bernard Gerstman, author of the paper, writes:

Damage by pulsed lasers to the retina or other tissues containing strongly absorbing particles may occur through biophysical mechanisms other than simple heating. Shockwaves and bubbles have been observed experimentally, and depending on pulse duration, may be the cause of retinal damage at threshold fluence levels. We performed detailed calculations on the shockwave and bubble generation expected from pulsed lasers. For a variety of different laser pulse durations and fluences, we tabulated the expected strength of the shockwave and size of the bubble that will be generated. We also explain how these results will change for absorbing particles with different physical properties such as absorption coefficient, bulk modulus, or thermal expansion coefficient. This enables the assessment of biological danger, and possible medical benefits, for lasers of a wide range of pulse durations and energies, incident on tissues with absorbing particles with a variety of thermomechanical characteristics.

His findings may later be used by others with less humane motives — such as anyone interested in the anti-personnel possibilities of high-energy laser pulses which cause 'explosive bubble formation' in human flesh.

Laser-Induced Shockwaves and Vaporization in Biological Systems [PDF] via Danger Room

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• One of the first examples of anything resembling a raygun was the Heat-Ray from H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, published in 1898.
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• While the term Heat-Ray actually referred to the beam the weapon fired, and not the weapon itself, it behaved like a modern day laser and incinerated everything it touched.
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• The beam was invisible in the novel, and was described as an intense beam of heat that was generated in a chamber and then focused using a parabolic mirror.
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• In the subsequent films, the Martians Heat-Ray was shown as a laser with a visible beam, and in Spielberg's version it only vaporized people and not their clothes. Handy if you needed to stock up on a wardrobe quickly.
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• Not long after The War of the Worlds, directed-energy weapons began appearing in pulp fiction novels and comics like Buck Rogers. In fact, toys based on the "disintegrator ray" from Buck Rogers were all the rage in the 1930s. These sparking tin toys are worth big bucks today.
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• Oddly enough, the disintegrator ray didn't first appear in Buck Rogers. It was actually in Edison's Conquest of Mars which was published in 1898 as an unauthorized sequel to War of the Worlds by Garrett Serviss.
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• Likewise, Star Wars wasn't the first science fiction property to call a laser gun a "blaster," that dates back to Nictzin Dyalhis' When the Green Star Waned in 1925.
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• Lightsabers were also pre-dated in science fiction, first appearing as "force field blades" in 1952 in Isaac Asimov's David Starr, Space Ranger.
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• Later in life, scientist Nikola Tesla was purported to have invented a massive "death ray" or "peace beam" that he wanted to use to end all wars. He tried selling it to the U.S. government without success.
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• During World War II, the Nazis tried to develop Wunderwaffen, or "wonder weapons," that would end the war early. They experimented with sonic weapons that had effects similar to directed-beam laser weapons, but were never able to mass produce them. Lucky for us.
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• The 1950s and 1960s saw an explosion of space-themed toys, and chief among them were laser pistols and atomic rayguns. There were a huge amount of these produced, based off of movies and books, like the blasters from 1956's Forbidden Planet or the Atomic Disintegrator Rays from 1959's Teenagers from Outer Space.
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• By the time Star Trek appeared in 1966, lasers were already five years old and Gene Roddenberry worried that they'd be considered old hat by then. So he added many different abilities to the phasers, like the ability to have them weld doors shut, cut holes in objects, blow up like grenades, and store power like batteries. In fact, in the episode "The Galileo Seven," Scotty transfers power from a bank of stored phaser pistols into the shuttlecraft engines. Of course, for Scotty, that's pretty par for the course.
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• Since their first appearance, laser guns have been broken down into different categories like particle beam weapons, directed energy weapons, plasma weapons, and beam guns. However, they're all still good ol' laser guns in our minds. Although their have been some attempts to make real-life laser guns, like the Active Denial System which is basically a giant microwave beam mounted like a cannon. Check out a video of it in action below. Ouch.

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• If you're in the market for replica laser guns, you can make your own, pick some up on eBay, or even purchase one of the high-priced artisan versions from WETA, known as Dr. Grordbort's Infallible Aether Oscillators. While they'll set you back a few bucks, they are also some of the coolest fictional guns you can purchase. They come in finely crafted velvet-lined cases, have complete backstories, and look pretty damned cool. Of course, the company that makes them specializes in producing effects and costumes for movies, so what would you expect?
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• Deckard's hand-cannon in Blade Runner: Deckard's gun was an amalgam of several other guns, namely the .44 Bulldog and a Styer Model SL. For the movie, they added some winky-blinky lights and a massive grip, making the thing look like it came off of a tank. And who could forget those massive CHOOMPF sounds it made when Harrison Ford fired it? This wasn't a little popgun, it had some real kick to it. It certainly wouldn't be very comfortable to wear in a holster under your coat, but it would give you some serious intimidation skills when you whipped it out.
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• The Good Samaritan Gun from Hellboy: Not to be outdone by Deckard's overly large firearm Hellboy sports a truly massive revolver that would dwarf a normal hand. According to the comic books, "The gun itself has unearthly resistance to almost all forms of attack, and includes grips carved from fragments of the True Cross. The metal of the gun is forged from a combination of Irish church bells, cold iron from crucifixes, blessed silver, and other mystic metals." Plus it comes with a handy lanyard so he doesn't lose it. Of course, even that gets dwarfed in Hellboy 2: The Golden Army when he whips out another gun called, no lie, The Big Baby.
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• The M41A Pulse Rifle from Aliens: While Ripley used to be a blue collar salvage worker, she proves that she wants to fight alongside the Marines in Aliens when she asks Kyle Reese... er, Corporal Dwayne Hicks to show her how to use this gun. It's basically a balls-out automatic rifle, complete with an underslung grenade launcher. She gets through the lesson and quickly becomes an expert in popping caps in Aliens. This supposedly also inspired the Assault Rifle in the Halo series, so it's definitely something to have on-hand during alien invasions.
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• The Varon-T Disruptor on Star Trek: One episode of The Next Generation called "The Most Toys," obsessive collector Kivas "Douchebag" Fajo had four of the five of these highly illegal, outlawed collectible guns. They could tear your body apart from the inside, in a slow and painful manner, which is why the Federation outlawed them. Of course, it was still fine for Worf to carry around a bat'leth sword. That couldn't be painful at all, could it?
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• The Lasseter Laser Pistol on Firefly: Not to be outdone by Trek, Firefly later had their own ultra-rare gun (the prototype handheld laser pistol_ and it was named after the jovial and affable John Lasseter of Pixar, who directed Toy Story... which Joss Whedon helped write. Mal and his on-again, off-again "wife" Saffron conspired to steal this sucker and make some dough, but things never really go as planned on that show.
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• Reason version 1.0B7 from Snow Crash: In Neal Stephenson's cyberpunk novel Reason is a gun that comes complete with its own operating system, carrying case, and a heat exchanger that you need to drop into a nearby body of water to keep the gun from overheating. It fires spent uranium rounds gatling-gun style, and features millimeter-wave radar, giving you daylight vision, even during the night. It might not be the easiest thing to carry around, but it's deadlier than the bubonic plague. As long as the system doesn't crash.
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• The Needler gun from the A Stainless Steel Rat novels: Harry Harrison's Rat books still haven't been adapted for film or tv, which continues to vex us. It's a great property that needs someone smart to bring it to the screen, big or small. Needlers, or needle guns, are popular in the series, and can be outfitted with different types of needles: tranquilizer, paralyzer, nerve toxin, truth serum, etc. Anyhow who is already scared of needles certainly wouldn't like this thing. If you haven't read these, A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born is a great starting point.
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• The Sandman guns from Logan's Run: In the movie, the Sandmen fired guns with an incendiary charge at the Runners. Deadly, yes, but not too imaginative. However, in the books they were six-round guns, and each round did something different, like the "homer" bullet which tracked you and would burn out every nerve in your body, or the "tangler" shot with was a sticky, goo-like web substance. Always be prepared!
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• The Lawgiver from Judge Dredd: Since a Judge was judge, jury, and executioner, this thing came in handy. They were DNA locked to each individual Judge, and featured bonus items like heat-seeking bullets, rubber "ricochet" shots, armor-piercing rounds, and even grenade rounds. Oh, and it also had a top range of three miles (!). That's some serious distance. Of course, if your bullet is going to explode when it hits, maybe aiming isn't that important at that range. Plus it gives you the ability to shout "I AM THE LAW" whenever you want.
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• The thermal smart bullet in Runaway: Granted, Gene Simmons' over-the-top performance in this Tom Selleck action flick from 1984 was pretty lethal. However, all eyes were on the "smart bullet" that Simmons' character had devised. It could be encoded with its targets thermal signature and track them, even around corners. The POV shots of it in flight were flight reminiscent of that flying needle in Dune, but it was cool and scary just the same. And yes, we know it's not a gun, but a bullet. Just remember guns don't kill people... the bullet has a lot to do with it.
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• Soran's gun from Star Trek Generations: While we're loathe to put to Trek entries on this list, Soran's gun gets a special mention for the street cred alone. You know how gangstas like to turn their gats to the side when they hold 'em? Soran's will turn right side up when he "gangsterizes" his hold on the pistol, for no apparent reason. The barrel just sort of flips back upright when he holds it sideways. It might look a bit like a doctor's exam tool, but at least it gives you some props and bling value.
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• The Zorg ZF1 Gun from The Fifth Element: Zorg's gun is nothing short of spectacular. It can break down into four pieces that are undetectable by x-rays, is good for left or right handers, features a 3000 round magazine, has a "Replay" button that sends all shots to the same location, a rocket launcher, an arrow launcher (with posion or explosive-tipped arrows), a net launcher, a flamethrower, and an "ice cube" freezing blast. Oh, and it'll self-destruct if you push the button on the bottom. Not bad. We could go on about it, but it's better if you just watch Zorg himself infomercial-it for you in the video below.
  
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Says Nader Elhefnawy:

[James] started with thinly-sketched claims about Soviet capabilities and programs for which the evidence was slim, and then extrapolated from them in a frictionless universe where unproven technologies never disappoint and bureaucratic irrationality never gets in the way.

In other words, by focusing on the absolute worst case, James helped make the Cold War that much more frenzied. It's an important lesson for the next time futurists make teeth-grinding predictions about Chinese space mastery or super-terrorists. But is anyone willing to learn it?

Space War and Future Hype [Plausible Futures]

Famous names: Greg Pak, Carlo Pagulayan, Aaron Lopresti, Gary Frank

Crunchy goodness: 5

Sequels: World War Hulk, in which the Hulk comes back to Earth with an alien army and vengeance in mind.

Elevator pitch: It's just like Spartacus — except this time nobody has to ask which one he is.

The shit: Pak and his collaborators put in major overtime on the world-building, creating an incredibly complex society with tons of alien races, not to mention the rampaging robotic wildebots. But what really makes Planet Hulk unforgettable is the Hulk's insect sidekick Miek, who evolves from scared larva to giant bug king to grief-stricken widower. Most comic book characters don't get that much development in twenty years.

Review of Planet Hulk