Wired's Danger Room blog brings news that DARPA, the military's science-fiction-turned-reality wing, has figured out how to make a fire extinguisher that uses sound to suppress flames -- something The Discovery Channel's Mythbusters successfully achieved five years ago. Of course, the show's hosts, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, didn't create a device that could be used in the real world, while the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's low-frequency sonic fire extinguisher is meant to battle actual fires in places like airplane cockpits and the holds of ships.
Still, it's pretty funny that a goofy pop science show beat the federal agency (which will be getting a new boss this summer) to this kind of technology by almost five years. Danger Room's Liat Clark reports DARPA figured out its own sonic fire extinguisher in December 2011. It's basically two speakers on either side of a flame. DARPA released video on Thursday:
Read more at The Atlantic Wire.
Read more at The Atlantic Wire.
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