Low-level blasts from heavy weapons can cause traumatic brain injury − 2 engineers explain the physics of invisible cell death

The people manning the guns are also at risk of injury from the force of the weapon.

Christian Franck, Bjorn Borgen Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Center for Traumatic Brain Injury, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Wisconsin-Madison • conversation
Feb. 28, 2024 • ~6 min

Russia’s space weapon: anti-satellite systems are indiscriminate, posing a risk to everyone’s spacecraft

Destroying satellites in space can lead to cascades that are hard to predict.

Dafydd Townley, Teaching Fellow in International Security, University of Portsmouth • conversation
Feb. 19, 2024 • ~7 min

Drone-zapping laser weapons now effective (and cheap) reality

Operating the DragonFire laser system for ten seconds costs the equivalent of using a heater for an hour (less than £10 per shot).

Gianluca Sarri, Professor at the School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen's University Belfast • conversation
Jan. 22, 2024 • ~6 min

From whistling arrows and trumpeting elephants to battle cries and eerie horns, ancient soldiers used sound to frighten and confuse their enemies

Since antiquity people have harnessed sound as a weapon, and the practice continues – in new high-tech ways – today.

Adrienne Mayor, Research Scholar, Classics and History and Philosophy of Science, Stanford University • conversation
Aug. 3, 2022 • ~10 min

Cyberattacks have yet to play a significant role in Russia’s battlefield operations in Ukraine – cyberwarfare experts explain the likely reasons

Cyberattacks can be devastating, just not on the battlefield, according to researchers who looked at 10 years of armed conflicts around the world.

Erik Gartzke, Professor of Political Science, University of California San Diego • conversation
April 4, 2022 • ~9 min

Intelligence, information warfare, cyber warfare, electronic warfare – what they are and how Russia is using them in Ukraine

From jamming satellite signals to spreading disinformation, Russia’s military has sophisticated technologies it’s bringing to the battlefield in Ukraine.

Justin Pelletier, Professor of Practice of Computing Security, Rochester Institute of Technology • conversation
March 1, 2022 • ~7 min

UN fails to agree on 'killer robot' ban as nations pour billions into autonomous weapons research

Sci-fi nightmares of a robot apocalypse aside, autonomous weapons are a very real threat to humanity. An expert on the weapons explains how the emerging arms race could be humanity’s last.

James Dawes, Professor of English, Macalester College • conversation
Dec. 20, 2021 • ~12 min

An autonomous robot may have already killed people – here's how the weapons could be more destabilizing than nukes

Sci-fi nightmares of a robot apocalypse aside, autonomous weapons are a very real threat to humanity. An expert on the weapons explains how the emerging arms race could be humanity’s last.

James Dawes, Professor of English, Macalester College • conversation
Sept. 29, 2021 • ~11 min

The threat of 'killer robots' is real and closer than you might think

Outsourcing use-of-force decisions to machines violates human dignity and is incompatible with international law.

Ingvild Bode, Associate Professor of International Relations, University of Southern Denmark • conversation
Oct. 15, 2020 • ~7 min

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