[Veggie Todd]

Four DARPA Projects That Could Be Bigger Than The Internet

Al Gore says, "BS!".

[raj bhatia]

DARPA is an under appreciated gem involved in funding some superb research work at universities. It would be great to see their budget increase in a big way over the next few years. We desperately need good research into the basic physics of some really exciting materials.

[sunrise_sunset]

I thought government couldn’t do anything well ?

[Organic Panic]

A border fence that keeps illegal invaders away...

[Nifster]

From item two “On the civilian side, because THz radiation, unlike X-ray radiation, is non-invasive,...” Nonsense. THz radiation penetrates the derma and is known to cause damage to DNA. It is one reason that people raised holy hem when THz scanners were introduced at the airport.

Generally this blog bit is the pretty picture version of very dangerous things

[alpo]

Number 4 could show ‘Global Warming/Climate change’ is all BS in about
5 minutes.

[taildragger]

We tend to be for a smaller federal spending footprint here on FR.

But this block of money 2 years ago caught my eye and could be the best 30 million spent in R & D if it truly yields the results they are looking for, not the pie in the sky of this DARPA push.

In total, the quest for a low cost pump @ your home or business ( After all we do have a Natural Gas Infrastructure, at home literally in many parts of the country) filling a normal shaped fuel tank with decent range is a bigger game changer than we know IMHO.

http://arpa-e.energy.gov/?q=projects%2Fsearch-projects&field_program_tid=893&field_project_state_value=All&term_node_tid_depth=740

Look at the chart below for a who's who of what is being researched...

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2012/07/move-20120712.html

[SunkenCiv]

Space exploration also grew directly out of defense spending — including the F1 engines used on the Saturn V.

[ckilmer]

Its a shame that DARPA does not concentrate on the two most strategic technologies for the USA and the world today.
1.)4th generation portable nuclear power plants including all the lftr variants.
2.) Semipermeable membranes for desalination plants —membranes that allow passage of fresh water but leave behind salt at room temperature and pressure. membranes that are /cheap to build/cheap to maintain/versatile for all salt water types.

The optimization of these two technologies would collapse the cost of water and energy around the world and enable desert farming the world over. Therefor they would double the size of the habitable planet.

[Alas Babylon!]

Hmmm... Number four worries me.

As much as they could use it to quickly STOP a pandemic... They could also use it to rapidly start one. As in a designer virus pandemic. Maybe one that only works on particular people that share a common DNA factor.

Hate White Anglo-Saxon descended males? The Founding Father’s Flu. Guaranteed to stop Obama’s TEA Party “problem”.

Far fetched, I know.