Flying robot attack ‘unstoppable’: experts

The Yamaha RMAX G1 unmanned helicopter equipped with the YACS-G system that uses a high-precision GPS unit to detect altitude and speed and control all rudders through a computer. Dimensions: 3 m rotor diameter.

It may sound like science fiction, but the prospect that suicide bombers and hijackers could be made redundant by flying robots is a real one, according to experts.

Via Gravity Lens.

Stephen comments:

The current sophistication of radio controlled aircraft can be shocking for people who aren’t part of the hobby. There are hobbyists in this country that have aircraft that approach the speed of sound. Check out this video.

Take an aircraft with a five foot wingspan, equipped with a camera or a GPS guidance system, load it up with a bomb or chemical or biological agents and you’ve got a cheap terrorist cruise missle:

http://www.aardvark.co.nz/pjet/cruise.shtml

I don’t like big brother in my business any more than anyone else, but this hobby needs to be closely monitored or regulated. Government will eventually be involved – either now or after a major attack.

Stephen originally wrote about this back in 2002.

Relic of ancient asteroid found

A large fragment has been found of an asteroid that punched a 160km-wide (100 miles) hole in the Earth’s surface.

The beachball-sized fossil meteorite was drilled out of South Africa’s 145-million-year-old Morokweng crater.

Men Pay the Ultimate Price to Attract Women

While it is tough to be a woman, being a man can be downright deadly.

Women live longer than men. And now scientists suggest a simple Darwinian reason: Competing for a mate can wear a guy out or get him killed.

In this scheme of natural selection, evolution shapes traits that help the best genes survive, sometimes to the detriment of individuals.

Human males don’t always have to wrestle to get a woman these days, but the pressure to succeed sexually hasn’t changed much, the researchers argue. Only the methods have been revised.

Hmmmm…as a happily married guy, I’ll refrain from wondering whether it’s getting a mate that shortens life or maybe some of the stuff that happens afterwards?

Oh, wait. That’s right…married men live longer.