Real-life plasma shields to protect soldiers are only the beginning. The technology -- which use a laser to create a curtain of miniature plasma explosions like firecrackers to turn away an enemy -- could be adapted to turn it into a physical shield, capable of warding off projectiles.
Chemical weapons have been an international taboo for decades. But now, some in the United States Air Force are pushing to use them again. A recent study out of the Air War College calls for using chemicals as "first-use weapons against terrorists" -- part of a larger pitch to rethink the long-time pariah of military warfare.
Wormholes -- those hypothetical short cuts in the space-time continuum -- that have been theorized to allow everything from warp speed spacecraft to time travel. Now, researchers are suggesting we can actually create a type of wormhole using those fun metamaterials that everyone is all excited about lately.