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from the something-is-bugging-me-about-this dept.
Seeking ways to make military vehicles less vulnerable to blast damage, BAE Systems is looking to one of the toughest insects in nature – the frighteningly hard to kill ironclad beetle. The defense contractor is developing a new bendable titanium alloy suspension system that not only does away with springs, but snaps back into shape after taking on landmines.
Based on a quarter century of conflivt[sic] experience, engineers have become very adept at armoring up military vehicles against mines, IEDs, and similar nasties. The good news is that modern armor can make these incidents ones to walk away from. The bad news is it's often literally a matter of walking away because, though the passenger's survive, the suspension ends up hopelessly mangled and the vehicle useless until towed back to the shop. This not only ties up other vehicles to conduct rescue operations, but leaves the mission one vehicle short.
What's needed is a vehicle that's more robust over all, so BAE Systems turned to the ironclad beetle inspiration. Ironclads are fungivores native to Texas and South America and they possess one of the hardest exoskeletons of any arthropod. Step on one and it will probably just give a coleopteran shrug and walk away. And if you catch one and want to add it to your collection, find a drill, because it's almost impossible to drive a pin through its body.
(Score: 1) by kanweg on Thursday November 24 2016, @05:22PM
Isn't that closing your eyes? The problem continues to grow.
What is needed is that people learn that their opinion on reality doesn't matter. Kids should learn in school that there are many religions and as the contradict each other they can't all be right. They should learn how made up religions manage to persist despite being made up. By way of example, they should learn that
the people that have that religion because they were born into it
There are threats (e.g. bad reincarnation) and promises (good reincarnations)
There are religious leaders that enjoy respect despite spreading the fake knowledge because people were taught to respect these men of the god(s) concerned.
The religious leaders enjoy status for being wise and earn a living spreading the myth, so they don't have an incentive to kill the goose with the golden eggs.
As the religion is made up, the religious leaders lack the critical thinking skills to debunk the religion. They're not even capable of it (or are just greedy).
There is scripture, that are supposedly holy and there is a taboo on contesting it.
Every kid should learn that while they learn lots of valuable knowledge and they learn stuff in school that even the best scientists one century back didn't know adults aren't necessarily right. In Sweden, Turkey and India the majority of adults thinks the number of gods is zero, one and many. While no one knows the answer for sure, in two of those countries the majority of adults is wrong.
Kids should learn that when it comes to an opinion on reality, the value of the opinion is only derived from the extent to which it is in line with reality. If we all strive towards the truth, we'll resolve differences because there is only one reality. Unfortunately the trend is to declare what is true, instead of scrutinising one's thoughts.
Bert
Bert