1 - Project X-Ray
In the early years of American involvement in WWII, a plan was conceived by a Pennsylvanian dental surgeon to strap tiny incendiary devices to bats
and drop them by the thousands over Japanese cities. The bats—able to carry nearly three times their own body weight—would fly under the cover of
night and take roost in traditional, highly-flammable wood and paper Japanese houses. As dawn approached, timers on the devices would ignite the "bat
bombs" and entire cities would burn to the ground without the loss of life accompanied by, say, an atomic attack. The project was slowed by many
complications and was ultimately shut down in 1944 because the bats would not be ready for combat until 1945.
2 - Cetacean Intelligence Mission
The Navy has been training bottlenose dolphins since at least the late 1980s to patrol and protect warships, hunt for mines, and even to carry darts
and target divers for attack. Once word of the program got out, animal rights activists raised public awareness causing the Navy to turn the details
highly classified; today, little is known about the extent of the operations. We do know that the animals were fitted with electronic harnesses, which
ostensibly relayed signal commands, and that they were trained to recognize divers in wetsuits like prowlers in the night. How the mechanism of firing
the darts was accomplished is anyone's guess.
3 - The Gay Bomb
The Air Force lab responsible for the gay bomb and the fart bomb have nothing on what the DOD has in the works today. Researchers at the Monell
Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia are working with the Department of Defense to develop the baddest smell you ever smelled. We're talking a
mixture of vomit, excrement, B.O., burnt hair, and rotting flesh and garbage. Just thinking about it is making me queasy. The important thing to note
is the need for a combination of many sources of stench—just vomit or just burnt hair won't do it because our brains can too readily adjust to
accommodating one stink. But throw a half dozen at us and we're at the mercy of our gag reflex. Ultimately, the potent cocktail could be used in a
"bomb" of sorts for crowd dispersal. It's also being considered for helping soldiers become accustomed to unpleasant environments.
4 - Cyborg Moths
As if most people weren't already creeped out enough by insects, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) has been working to develop
cyborg spy moths. Darpa, the research arm of the Department of Defense, has already successfully implanted chips in cockroaches and rats, allowing
humans to "drive" the animals with joysticks. In the case of the moths, the chip will be implanted at the pupal stage so that the animal grows
around it and develops a "reliable tissue-machine interface." The spy moth will then be released at the front lines and remotely piloted into enemy
territory, potentially beaming back video and audio feeds along the way.
5 - Puke light
No, it's not a rave toy gone horribly wrong, it's another spooky tool making its way into the hands of law enforcement and the military. Designed as
one of a growing body of non-lethal incapacitating devices, the flashlight uses ultra bright, rapidly pulsating LEDs to first temporarily blind and
then induce nausea and sometimes vomiting. The pulses quickly change color and duration, which can cause psychophysical effects in many people
(although to what extent varies significantly). The same effect is sometimes inadvertently seen by helicopter pilots when sunlight rapidly flashes
through their rotors, disorienting them in mid-flight. The flashlight has obvious downsides—the victim must be in front of the light and must not
think quickly enough to look away—but is a promising tool for non-violent enforcement.
6 - A Military-Grade Stink Bomb
This never got any further than a three-page report. In the document, issued by a U.S. Air Force research laboratory in Ohio in 1994, the proposal was
to develop a variety of bombs of uncommon ordinance (at a cost of $7.5 million), including: a flatulence bomb, which would stink so badly as to drive
the enemy out of its hiding places; a bomb which would make the enemy sweat profusely; and a "halitosis bomb," which would plague soldiers with bad
breath. But the coup de grâce was the bomb now colloquially referred to as the "gay bomb." Using a hypothetical aphrodisiac of remarkable potency,
the bomb would spray the enemy with a substance that would quite literally turn them gay, causing the soldiers to become "irresistibly attracted to
one another" and, we can only assume, forget that they were in the process of being bombed.
7 - The Scream
The Israeli Army has developed a device they're calling "The Scream," which issues short bursts of highly tuned sound designed to get in someone's
head and stay there most uncomfortably until they leave the device's range. The noise isn't particularly loud and the effect is nothing like
standing too close to the speakers at a rock show. Instead, it's tuned to a specific frequency that targets the inner ear and disrupts a person's
equilibrium. The result is nausea and dizziness even after the sound is no longer broadcast. It is an unbearable sensation, and covering your ears is
no defense.
8 - Modular Disc-Wing Urban Cruise Munition
Again, we're fans of the colloquial name: robotic frisbees of death. Currently in development under the auspices of the Air Force, the frisbees of
death are robotic drones in the shape of flying discs and are designed for short flights into difficult to reach areas, like the upper stories of tall
buildings or behind unnavigable obstacles. Sent airborne from a modified skeet launcher, the drones can either fly automatically or be piloted
remotely from the ground. They'll be packed with armor-piercing explosives and can be set to detonate all at once or to disperse their payload over a
range.
9 - Calmatives
Just as "overactive bladder" replaced "incontinence" and "habit-forming" took the place of "addictive" in drug ads and pharmacies across the
country, so too has the Pentagon obfuscated "chemical weapons" with the positively delightful-sounding moniker of "calmatives." Only these aren't
anything you want to take into your bubble bath. The most recent developments in calmative weapons come from Fentanyl derivatives. They are massively
powerful opiates—Carfentanil is a commercially available analogue used to tranquilize elephants—which are also highly dangerous. It is widely
believed to have been the variant used by the Russian police against the Chechen rebels who held 850 people hostage in a Moscow theatre in 2002. Over
a hundred of the hostages died from respiratory depression as a result of the exposure. Although these weapons are classified as "non-lethal" by the
American military, it is clear they can very easily have dire consequences.
10 - Mobility Denial System
a fancy name for what is essentially cartoon slime. It's actually less Inspector Gadget and more a potentially effective and valuable idea. It works
like this: two polymers are mixed together—a liquid and a powder—to make a slurry, which is then pumped into a nozzle where it meets a s
[edit on 20-8-2009 by VitalOverdose]
though it
would make a funny as hell comedy sketch. 
