Weapons
Update: Oops, the MEDUSA Mind Control Ray Gun Will Actually Kill You
Posted by Jack Loftus at 12:00 AM on July 27, 2008
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!

The Sierra Nevada Corporation claimed this week that it is ready to begin production on the MEDUSA, a damned scary ray gun that uses the "microwave audio effect" to implant sounds and perhaps even specific messages inside people's heads. Short for Mob Excess Deterrent Using Silent Audio, MEDUSA creates the audio effect with short microwave pulses. The pulses create a shockwave inside the skull that's detected by the ears, and basically makes you think you're going balls-to-the-wall batshit insane. The MEDUSA can also "produce recognisable sounds" and is aimed primarily at military uses, but New Scientist revealed there are other uses in the works, too.