Micromechanical chips that pump chemicals and living cells around them are already being used to amplify DNA strands and make health diagnoses. Now a new use for these miniature microchip marvels is being patented in the US: blowing things up.
It’s not quite as bad as it sounds: the idea is to make weapons magazines safer. When shells, bombs and rockets are stored near a combat front line there’s always a risk that a stray piece of shrapnel or a bullet will strike one of the munitions – and if it hits the warhead’s detonator (which includes a small initiating explosive charge) the whole lot could go sky high.
(Thanks Bryon) via Electronics Weekly
