Technology that has previously been used to mark out minefields may have found a new use in life – keeping (some) sea life out of fishing nets. The BBC article describes how the animals that use sonar for navigation could be helped by making it obvious that the net involved some physical barrier; currently the nets do not bounce enough sonar back to the animal, and so can entangle, and slowly kill dolphins, porpoises, smaller whales etc.
Previously, battery powered devices were used to mark out mine fields, however these have obvious drawbacks when the battery runs out and needs replacing.
March 21st, 2008 9:46 pm
well, it would be nice to see some technology to offset the problems with net technology. i guess that’s the problem with the march of technology – there are always unintended consequences. that’s a sad picture.
March 22nd, 2008 1:10 am
Agreed, sad, but the fact that advances like this are being made, and hopefully implemented, is something to bring a little light into the darkness.
I think I found your google search btw – military technology “powered by wordpress” -wordpress.com -blogspot.com 🙂 Not enough PR on the blogspot/wordpress hosted sites 😉 Happy to have you over, hope you visit again…