Yankee Ingenuity : DOES IT AGAIN !

I thought they'd be the ones to do it. Those "good ol boys" are usually on the bleeding edge of nuclear physics and application. Some other strides were made into the field of antimatter applications both theoretical and real discovery. Anti-hydrogen for example in 1990s. Antiprotons is a bit more common to produce but other high end projects and labs go for producing anti-hydrogen. Some even store it for research purposes and others are sent to medical labs for application in that field. Unfortunately current technology produces very little antiprotons, and barely any anti-hydrogen; both at very high costs ($25+ million just for production and more for storage) for such minuscule amounts. Storing antiprotons is difficult due to it being repellent to each other and antiparticles needs to be cooled significantly for its storage. As for antimatter applications Antimatter telescope/microscope - to explore the atomic structure of elements and materials in a different fashion. Already used somewhat in the medical profession but with more research atomic structures of objects can be studied even further than the highest standards. Antimatter inverter - an item capable of producing specific antiprotons and antielectrons through a more refined present method or through exposing a piece of simple matter to the machine. With refinement an anti-element(anti-oxygen for example) can form. With the inverter problems of creating antiprotons and antimatter(currently anti-hydrogen) might be bypassed. Fuel/Propulsion - this is due to the annihilation of antimatter with matter and the resultant kinetic energy that occurs. Currently it is very costly to make antiprotons and antimatter as well as store it. If production was better, it would only take several grams to serve as a fuel for short distance space travel (to Mars or Venus). The efficiency of antimatter fuel is in question, since some models require deuterium and/or tritium to fuse with it to have an efficient energy source backing the antimatter production since current power sources are not up to the task of producing antimatter efficiently. Gamma ray or particle weapons (small weapons)- again, by pairing matter and antimatter and then releasing them on command or trigger, powerful reactions occur depending on what element or items are positive and anti. Depending on the strength, this weapon could range from radioactive bombardment to direct and heavy photonic based attacks (lasers). It can even be worse than that, if the weapon is one that exposes matter to antimatter directly (annihilation, vaporation). This one will definitely take time as well, since collecting the antiprotons/antimatter and storing it into this application will be difficult; at least the handhelds, larger weapons though very costly would at least have the storage facilities in order. Not to mention producing a stable enough positron or antimatter fueled photonic weapon. Don't count on seeing any real "pew pewing" anytime soon. Larger Antimatter weapons - researched since the Cold War. The interest in the larger weapons varies, but one main point is the 100% conversion of matter to energy. Like described in the smaller weapons, the type of antimatter application is also considered. Some of these weapons could be giant lasers but its more likely they could be direct matter annihilation bombs. With direct use and annihilation, there is no (or very little)radioactivity, unlike a standard atomic weapon. The force of a direct weapon also depends on the matter around the bomb when its used. And to put it in perspective, a kilogram of antimatter when annihilated releases energy close to the amount released in a 20 megaton bomb detonation (and this is after the loss of energy in pions. the real energy conversion would be a 41 megaton bomb without the loss of pions in the reaction). Future antimatter production - currently only antiprotons/particles and anti-hydrogen can be produced by technology and its very expensive to do, ranging in $25-35 million for just a few particles. Storage (the cooling of the anti items) is also expensive. If production technology improved eventually nuclear scientists and research institutions could produce atomically heavier anti-elements like Anti-helium, Anti-Lithium, Anti-Beryllium, Anti-Boron, Anti-Carbon, Anti-Oxygen, just to name some likely ones. It would most likely be Anti-helium produced next due to the present difficulty of producing Anti-hydrogen. Storage will still be an issue due to the difficulties storing anti-hydrogen. Other issues - apparently antimatter is located in the Van Allen's belt around the earth and other planets in the Sol system. NASA hopes to harvest it through magnetic means in order to use it for spacetravel. Phew... Long one. But science is pretty great, so posts like this can happen.

Good old boys with a nuclear reactor. Now that's a scary thought. When I first read your article without going to the link I imagined some good old boys, outback, under Magnolia tree rewiring of 57 Ford to somehow produce a positron beam. Weapons applications aside, I think one of the most exciting possibilities is that it might be quite useful as an interstellar drive. Using it for uncutting and slicing, rejoins and putting things back together, would seem to be a rather limited applications since you apparently need a nuclear reactor to make it work. I don't think the world is quite ready for a nuclear powered welding machine. Interesting stuff, though. Thanks for posting.

It's a little over my head. It took several years to accomplish what they did, which to the layman, doesn't sound like a lot. I am sure there will be many uses and benefits of this breakthrough, but they will probably be a long time away. Whatever scientific applications they can think up, I am sure there will be someone somewhere which will see all of their new ideas in another light and think of how it all could be used for weaponry. We'll just have to wait and see what develops.

Yep, nothing to beat shed-technology, remember when that chap here, in his shed, detected and tracked the stealth bomber, with his home made equipment. all the best urban