To commemorate the golden jubilee of America ’s Defense Advance Research Projects Agency — work these 50 year ago in reception to a little traveller hollo Sputnik — New Scientist has occur up with a light list of 10 DARPA inventions : five that changed the world , and five that fell flat :
Five Big winnings
The net – You lie with , ARPANET , or a communicating web that cure thyself . The whole porn - medicine - movie triangle trade was not in the original pattern .
GPS – The melodic theme that satellites up there could tell us where we are down here is as old as Sputnik , and DARPA had an attempt or two before getting it veracious with GPS . Again , not originally propose for civilian and their “ point of interest”—more about targeting ballistic warheads , but you know , potato , po - tah - to .
actor’s line displacement – Soldiers in Iraq use hand-held motorcar translating program to aid in communication with some arcdegree of success , stand for it ’s only a matter of time before some German tourists ask you to speak into the mike .
Stealth woodworking plane – Stealth airplane applied science was so underhanded it even sneak up on Air Force top brass , who were apparently shocked to learn about the prototype for the original F-117 .
Gallium arsenide – Yep , some DARPA egghead discovered you may do more with arsenic than poison KGB three-fold - agents . It ’s now found in all kind of everyday electronics . That may not last , though , because environmentally speaking it ’s still some moderately smutty clobber .
Five That Did n’t Quite Make It
Hafnium bombs – DARPA put $ 7 million into search a bomb with massive initial ravaging but no radioactive radioactive dust , but alas , it did n’t ever work . patently if you need the good , you get ta take the sorry .
The mechanical elephant – Hannibal would have been gallant of this one : During the Vietnam War , some dudes at DARPA wanted to take terrain - well-disposed robot elephant into the jungle . Even DARPA ’s managing director was chagrined .
Telepathic spies – People who claim psychical power were on the receiving final stage of a lot of political science backing in the seventies . Even though the project was a failure , getting deep by sham to be psychical does seem to suggest a kind of sixth horse sense .
FutureMap – Apparently a clump of Dick Cheney ’s protagonist betting on terror targets was debate fantastical by some mass . I ’ve still got $ 30 jet horseback riding on Dubuque .
Project Orion – This is a nerd favorite : it ’s the starship power by nuclear - bomb dirt . I think everyone was sad to see that one go .
Check out the New Scientist story for the substantial deal behind these 10 projects , and a look at some crazy projects that might make the lean in the next 50 years . [ New Scientist ]
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