Tornado on Mars

This dust devil is 12 miles high and about a hundred yards across.

What a picture. From Universe Today:

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has now spotted a gigantic Martian dust devil roughly 20 kilometers (12 miles) high, churning through the Amazonis Planitia region of northern Mars. The HiRISE camera (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) captured the event on March 14, 2012. Scientists say that despite its height, the plume is just 70 meters (70 yards) wide.

Also, kind of science-y, the Russians are trying to close the exotic weapons gap. But their microwave heat ray doesn't penetrate only the top 1/16th inch layer of skin, like our hi-tech, non-lethal weapon does. Our heat ray creates the sensation of heat without doing real damage. Theirs actually cooks people. Apparently they didn't get the memo on non-lethality.

High doses of microwaves can damage the functioning of internal organs, control behaviour or even drive victims to suicide.

‘When it was used for dispersing a crowd and it was focused on a man, his body temperature went up immediately as if he was thrown into a hot frying pan.

Note to Russia: It's not hi-tech if it's what I have in my kitchen.

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posted by rdbrewer at 07:37 PM

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