Tuesday, October 05, 2004

Air Force pursuing antimatter weapons





"Unlike regular nuclear bombs, positron bombs wouldn't eject plumes of radioactive debris. When large numbers of positrons and antielectrons collide, the primary product is an invisible but extremely dangerous burst of gamma radiation. Thus, in principle, a positron bomb could be a step toward one of the military's dreams from the early Cold War: a so-called 'clean' superbomb that could kill large numbers of soldiers without ejecting radioactive contaminants over the countryside." (Via The Anomalist.)

If we're going to end civilization we might as well do it in style.

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