Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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The ULTRACAM has been a staple in ESO for almost 16 years. This high-speed camera is able to do 500 photographs per second in three different wavelengths and, since 2002 has been operating at the William Herschel Telescope at La Palma (Canary Islands, Spain), the New Technology Telescope at La Silla (Chile) (where this picture was taken) and, most recently, at the Very Large Telescope at Paranal (Chile) and the Thai National Telescope at Chiang Mai (Thailand).

Some of its past targets have included: the study of black holes, “hot-Jupiters” or variable stars.

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Considering how often lasers show up in science fiction, it’s interesting that the concept of “talking lasers” might show up in reality before eventually finding their way into sci-fi.

But the United States’ military Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program (JNLWP) is getting close to creating one, according to a new report in Defense One. The device in question will soon be capable of reproducing human speech as a means of scaring off trespassers or enemies, making announcements, or just sending discrete messages to somebody who dropped their phone or walkie talkie.

It’s not quite there yet, because while it does sound like a garbled human speaking, it still speaks only gibberish for now. See it below, but don’t turn up your headphones too loud, for reasons that will immediately become clear — like many people who speak gibberish, the laser speaks loudly:

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