So much for that "nonlethal" weapon

Ooops. Imagine that: the D.o'D. just accidently made another weapon for the next big land war.

The MEDUSA crowd control ray gun we reported on earlier this month sounded like some pretty amazing—and downright scary—technology. Using the microwave auditory effect, the beam, in theory, would have put sounds and voice-like noises in your head, thereby driving you away from the area. Crowd control via voices in your head. Sounds cool. However, it turns out that the beam would actually kill you before any of that happy stuff started taking place, most likely by frying or cooking your brain inside your skull. Can you imagine if this thing made it out into the field? Awkward!

“Any kind of exposure you could give to someone that wouldn’t burn them to a crisp would produce a sound too weak to have any effect,” said Kenneth Foster, a bioengineering professor at the University of Pennsylvania...

I actually noted this thing here from another source, but I had the same premonition. Anything that puts out enough juice to jangel your auditory neurons isn't far from parboiling them, either. Or downright pressure cooking, for that matter...