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US Navy considering fitness video games for boot camp
Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket effectively scared an entire generation away from boot camp. However, a new tactic being considered by the US Navy may completely change our perception of boot camp: video games. In the latest issue of Navy Times, Navy Surgeon General Vice Admiral Adam Robinson (he does sound important) suggested that games like Wii Fit and Dance Dance Revolution could help "newcomers to the military service build up the endurance they need to get in shape safely." According to the report, today's recruit requires much more work to get into "fighting shape" than in the past. With America's youth becoming increasingly sedentary, the US Navy has observed an increasing number of injuries suffered during boot camp. Recruits are "not used to the amount of standing and running that comes in recruit training," the report indicates. Games would theoretically provide a more approachable, familiar solution for physical activity. However, don't expect games to completely replace current recruit training techniques. The US Navy is simply looking into the possibility of augmenting its current regimen with fitness games. Additionally, there's no timetable in place for when games would be introduced into the military. Still, we're eager to see if the boot camps of the future will look less like the one in Kubrick's war movie and more like ... this. [Thanks Joseph!]
NASA's robot submarine achieves perpetual motion, of a sort
The Sounding Oceanographic Lagrangrian Observer Thermal Recharging (SOLO-TREC) autonomous underwater vehicle is, well, quite a mouthful. It's also the first submarine that can run a sizable percentage of forever without requiring a charge. When the 183-pound buoy dives, cooler water temperature causes a liquid wax-like substance inside to solidify, squeezing out oil that drives a hydraulic generator; when it surfaces, the wax softens once again, ready for another round. Every dive produces 1.7 watt-hours of electricity, enough to power all the instruments, GPS and buoyancy-control pump on board. It's like a drinking bird that never runs out of water. Designed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Scripps researchers, the thermal engine is envisioned as an oceanography tool... but since the US Navy also has a finger in the pie, don't be surprised if it plays a minor role in the coming robot apocalypse as well.
Navy shells out for development of missile-killing free-electron laser
You may think that the Navy's just the baby brother to the two other US Armed Forces, but its weapon development record definitely shows otherwise. Just over two years after building an 8-Megajoule railgun, the branch has penned two $7 million checks to defense contractors Boeing and Raytheon for the design and development of a free-electron laser (FEL). For what it's worth, such a device has been yearned for since a day after the dawn of time, as unlike chemical-based lasers, the FEL would be 100 percent electric and easier to move. For those unaware,this stormy petrel of a weapon would be used to blast down missiles in mid-flight, all while putting on a pretty impressive light show. 'Course, the Navy must also figure out how to build a massive energy generating ship in order to use it, but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves here, okay?[Image courtesy of AIP]
Navy patent reveals underwater sound weapon
The U.S. Navy certainly doesn't seem to have any shortage of unconventional weapons in development, but it looks like it still has plenty more ideas on its plate, with a recent patent revealing yet another new weapon that takes a slightly different path towards its target. While this one is unconventional, it certainly doesn't appear to be non-lethal, employing sonar to generate what the Navy describes as "acoustic remote cavitation," which can supposedly destroy torpedoes, mines, and any other "undesirable objects" in its path. What's more, the Navy says that can be done from a distance of up to one kilometer away, which is apparently far greater than other similar examples of the technology. Less clear, however, is how the Navy plans to deal with the seemingly inevitable swarms of irate dolphins set on enacting some revenge. [Via Danger Room]
Thermonor body temp regulation tubes to be tested by US Navy
Leave it to the contemporary descendants of the Vikings, to come up with a way to help American sailors stay physically afloat longer; Congress has just approved $500,000 for testing of five Norwegian-made "temperature management" units. The firm behind this invention, Thermonor, claims to have built a device that can alter an injured sailor's limb by encasing it in a plastic cylinder to keep the body's temperature high enough to avoid hypothermia and also pressurized enough to control severe bleeding. Still though, Thermonor may want to work on the product's design a little more just so that the patient doesn't feel like they've been turned into a freakish version of Captain Hook.
