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“Tim Burton” by Amity C-S.

Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Have you ever wanted it to be Halloween forever? Tim Burton is a leader in movie directing and animation, expressing his love for dark concepts.  Using a specific style to target a certain audience, he always hits someone directly with the deep meanings, creative animation, and dark stories.

The master of whimsical dark stories went to school for animation at the California Institute of the Arts, catching the eye of Disney with his works. Disney hired him as a main animator, but after a few projects, it was clear he didn’t fit in with the style, which is lighthearted and bright, while Burton is dark and deep. Disney’s style was too light hearted and bright for Burton’s taste.

A few years after Disney, Burton started his film career by making short films. Then, he received his big break when Paul Reubens offered him an opportunity to direct his first major film: Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. Burton’s film list now include classic such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Nightmare Before Christmas, Frankenweenie, and Alice in Wonderland

Burton’s films and animation have a specific style.  A dark, gothic setting is Burton’s inspiration for his exaggerated characters, costumes, makeup, scenery. and props. Burton is known for his in-depth and detailed animations using CGI, computer generated imagery. In the 2010 film Alice in Wonderland, CGI is used with the Wonderland characters and scenery. In Beetlejuice, Burton displays gothic stylization through scenery, makeup, and costumes. In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Burton dims down the dark and dreary element of his films, making it brighter and more animated. With the gothic elements gone, Burton inputs a sad backstory instead.

CGI is a program that helps animators create more realistic images. In the times before computers, animation was done by hand with teams of animators. Animators would draw and color images on transparent sheets to create multiple layers, making the images look more sophisticated than traditional animation. CGI imagery stems from the evolution of basic cartoon animation, beginning its process by creating a three dimensional model, which is similar to a two dimensional counterpart.

Burton has used CGI to created many unorthodox films in his time as a director and animator. He is also known for his take on horror, death, and dark elements and transporting them into a language kids will understand, making him respected throughout the film industry. Burton states, “Everyday is Halloween isn’t it? For some of us.”

                                                   Works Cited

Perno, GS. "Directors' Trademarks: Tim Burton." Directors' Trademarks: Tim

           Burton. N.p. 23 Dec. 2014. Web. 17 Dec. 2015.

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“Calculus Wars” by Seth F.

Calculus was one of the greatest mathematical discoveries of the seventeenth century, but who exactly invented it? Mrs. Gironda’s Calculus class continued the centuries-old debate whether the answer was the well-known Sir Isaac Newton or the lesser known Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.

Each had their own claim to fame on the subject. Leibniz published his research in 1684 while Newton published his work in 1704 (twenty years later!). The controversy comes in because both had kept their work a secret for several years prior. Newton technically completed his work first in 1665 while Leibniz completed his in 1673. Newton was furious at being beaten to the punch on what he considered to be “his” invention. Then the “war” began. Newton was already well-known for his advancements in the scientific field, so he had “followers” at his disposal that he used to cripple Leibniz’s reputation with accusations of plagiarism, which were rapidly accepted through the educational community. This led to Leibniz dying poor and dishonored while Newton was given a state funeral.

Over time, Leibniz’s research has been authenticated within his many fields, but Newton’s “smear campaign” is still very real. The “war” still goes on to this day with mathematicians constantly going back and forth to determine the true “father of calculus” and the winner of the “Calculus War.” Our class was the latest example of that debate. We took several days to research and come up with a fierce rap battle between the two mathematical giants. I wrote the Leibniz section of the battle:

Teaching classes?

The best you can do is find planet masses

You can prove we go around the sun

But you couldn’t have a son?

I made a calculator

You’re an educator

I can’t see your reasoning

When you’re smiting me for citing your theories

Geometry is the better way to go

Better than anything from you, the bald crow

Go back to failing farming with your old hoe

When you find a wife, come back to flow

I did my research with but a dime

You did it with nearly infinite money and time

But calculus? It really was my invention

You’re the one who should be paying attention

Forget detention, the best you’ll get from me is suspension

The debate left our class divided, some siding with Newton, others with Leibniz. Who do you chose?

                                             Works Cited

Lienhard, John. "No. 1375: Newton vs. Leibniz." No. 1375: Newton vs.

           Leibniz. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2015.

           <http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1375.htm>.

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“Hidden Chemicals” by Bree C.

Not long ago Americans ate food without any added ingredients or chemicals, but now we settle for foods that can possibly kill us in the long run because we don’t know the hidden dangers in the mysterious ingredients. Looking for the hidden dangers in our food might one day save our lives.

One of the many harmful side effects in the food we eat today is cancer causing chemicals. “Pesticides sprayed on crops, antibiotics used on poultry, and hormones given to cattle…. may increase breast cancer risk (“Chemicals...”).  One of the many chemicals is atrazine. Because it is sprayed on crops, it leaks into groundwater and “has been linked to a number of reproductive changes in wildlife (“Chemicals…”). Just imagine what it could be doing to us. Dieldrin and aldrin, two dangerous pesticides, have caused breast cancer in some women exposed to them and have been linked to some hormonal effects. Another chemical is zeronal, which is used in beef products. After exposing cancer cells “to zeranol-treated beef”, results showed significant increases in cancer growth (“Chemicals…”).  Sodium nitrate, used in “meats to stop bacterial growth,” has been the leading factor in cancer (“50 Jawdroppingly…”).  These are just some of the many chemicals that have been linked to cancer.

Another side effect is an increased risk of heart disease. The chemical mercury, found in some fish, “actually interferes with the body's response to stress, increasing the odds of heart disease” (Zerbe). The highest levels of mercury is found in most large fish; however, “in some freshwater species, including trout and bass” we have found high levels of mercury also” (Zerbe).  Another chemical that can lead to heart disease is high fructose corn syrup, which is “made from genetically-modified corn” (“50 Jawdroppingly…”) . Refined vegetable oil, which “includes soybean oil, corn oil, safflower oil, canola oil, and peanut oil,” has been found to cause both cancer and heart disease (“50 Jawdroppingly…”). There are many more chemicals that can cause heart disease and cancer; however, we may not know all of the chemicals that can cause it.

There are still many different side effects of chemicals in foods such as asthma, birth defects, headaches, and organ damage. There may  be more side effects that we haven’t even begun to discover yet. In the future we should know more about the foods we eat, and decide to eat healthier. We should look for simpler foods that don’t need as many chemicals. If we continue to do research, we will find healthier ingredients. We could also start to eat healthier, which includes reading the labels and understanding what’s really in the food we eat. Organic food is also a very good choice because they don’t have all of the added chemicals like other foods. In general, we should start watching what we put in our bodies because it could possibly save our lives one day.  

                                               Works Cited

"Chemicals in Food." Chemicals in Food. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.

"50 Jawdroppingly Toxic Food Ingredients & Artificial Additives to 

              Avoid."MPHProgramsListcom 2015. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

Zerbe, Leah. "6 Surprising Heart Attack Triggers." ABC News. ABC News

              Network, n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2015.

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“Fireworks” by Izzy W.

Boom! Bang! Crackle! Fireworks shoot into the air. Thanks to chemistry there is more to these fireworks than just colors and sparkly lights. Every firework contains an element that creates a specific emotional response in the spectators.

In Mr. Madorin’s chemistry class, we looked at the elements and the emotional connections with fireworks. We had to create a panorama and a script or a 15-minute movie. I choose to do a panorama of 36 frames to show 176 fireworks. We pretended we were giving a client a presentation about what we needed to do on the next 4th of July fireworks show. As a class, we had to explain the different types of fireworks, the elements in them, and the emotional response people have to the colors.

Different colors have different types of elements and emotional responses. The color red is produced by strontium salts, lithium carbonate, and strontium carbonate, which give off warmth, love, and joy. Strontium allows the firework to show off a stronger color of red. The color orange contains calcium salts, calcium chloride, and calcium sulfide, which gives off a friendly, relaxing feeling. Blue can contain copper compounds, and if a turquoise color is wanted, add the element copper chloride, which gives the blue a softer shade that appears as turquoise.

Viewing a fireworks display’s different colors produces different reactions in the audience. If there were no elements involved, the fireworks would be bland. I learned that fireworks aren't just something pretty to look at. They are a complex system that we don't even think about while watching the sparkles and pretty colors explode in the sky. I learned so much doing this project and now look at fireworks with a different perspective. 

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“Thermal Invisibility” by Seth F.

Harry Potter used his invisibility cloak to sneak around Hogwarts. Well, cloaks like that have existed for a few years now, as well as ones that make the user invisible to even sound waves. Never before has the capability to make an object invisible to heat existed, but now, not even that is science fiction.

The “cloak”, designed by scientists in Singapore, uses a specially made metamaterial, the composition of which currently varies due to testing, combined with an electrical current to bend heat waves around the “cloak’s” surface, making anything underneath “invisible” to heat sensors. There was another version that attempted the same process in a more passive manner, without the use of the electrical current, though the effects weren’t as spectacular. The previous version also had significant problems fitting around certain objects but has since been resolved through simple re-designs.

Testing has just begun on the cloak, but possible applications range from more effective heat distribution in civilian clothing to military stealth suits capable of being “invisible” in three different spectrums. The future of the technology is nearly limitless, so let’s figure out how to use it.

                                                 Works Cited

American Institute of Physics (AIP). "A Thermal Invisibility Cloak Actively

         Redirects Heat." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 21 September 2015.

         www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150921112729.htm.

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“Wormhole” by Jaden M.

Now you see me, now you don’t. In every crazy and unbelievable science fiction story, people are able to travel through time and space, but now mankind has taken some pages from our wildest fantasies and brought them to life.

Scientists have recently created a wormhole with a magnetic field almost strong enough to transport objects to another set point. In addition to teleportation, this discovery may also be used to achieve a form of invisibility. Using the magnetic fields found in the environment,the mu-metal blends the object into the magnetic field.   Scientists have created a three-layered object consisting of two concentric spheres (two shapes that share the same center) with an interior spiral-cylinder. The interior layer essentially transmits a magnetic field from one end to the other while the other two layers act to conceal the field's existence. The inner cylinder is made of a ferromagnetic mu-metal. Ferromagnetic materials exhibit the strongest form of magnetism, while mu-metals are highly permeable and are often used for shielding electronic devices.

Applying this discovery to new technology will benefit weapons for war during espionage missions along with observing animals in a friendly manner without disturbing them in their habitats for easier spying or observations. With further advancement, invisibility cloaks are sure to be a product of the future.

                                                                                            Works Cited

Ghose, Tia. "Wormhole Created in Lab Makes Invisible Magnetic

          Field."LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 20 Aug. 2015. Web.

          17 Sept. 2015.

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“Pixar” by Amity C-S.

Toys that talk, feelings that express their own feelings, a superhero family! All of these story lines came from Pixar, one of the leaders in animated films, known for having the extraordinary ability to make grownups cry over an imaginary friend, and make children fall in love with characters. Founded in 1986, Pixar was never considered a major company until 2006 when Disney bought the company for $7.4 billion dollars (Stuart). Pixar is also a leader in new technology, always looking for current ways to make their artform better.

The first technology Pixar used for animation was the imaging computer. This computer was first used for medical companies receiving 3D images of MRIs. After a few years of using this computer, new software was created. RenderMan is a program that converts 2D images into 3D graphics, giving color to each graphic and shading that gives depth to flat imaging. Pixar has used RenderMan for twenty five years as its main software. Much like any other programs and technology, RenderMan has had many upgrades and new additions over two decades (Stuart). The new upgrades and software make it easier for animators to use, so they can spend “more time creating beautiful images” (Stuart). Renderman uses processors, computer programs that scan animations and add detail, to create different elements of a scene. It took about 3,000 processors to create the movies The Incredibles and Cars, two films from the mid-2000’s, and for more recent films such as Monsters University and Inside Out, the number of processors needed soared to 20,000. An example of this is shown in the rendering of the character Sulley from Monsters Inc. In the first movie, Sulley has 1.1 million hairs, and in Monsters University he had 5.5 million individual hairs (Vanian).

In Pixar’s newest release, Inside Out, a glow surrounds the character Joy because she is a source of light that lights up characters and objects, allowing Joy to be a constant beacon of light with anything in her surroundings. This effect is possible due to new RenderMan programs that instantly add light to scenes.This software allows Joy to have a natural glow, which beams off her companions and objects around her naturally (Vanian).

Pixar has created iconic films using RenderMan that have brightened our days.  Animation allows a small glimmer of happiness in a viewer’s life, even if it’s only for 90 minutes. Pixar is the leader in creating films that are profitable, touch our hearts, and lead the industry in innovation.

                                                  Works Cited

Stuart, Sophia. "20 Years of Toy Story and Pixar Magic." PCMAG. N.p., 05 Oct.

               2015. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.

Vanian, Johnathan. "How Pixar Brings Its Animated Movies to Life." 

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“Capturing CO2″ by Wyatt B.

If industries could capture CO2 and sell it, it would be the equivalent of selling trash. Companies in Germany and Canada are doing just that.

Carbon Engineering, a Canadian company, has just built a plant to take in two metric tons of CO2 and turn it into 500 litres of diesel (Belton). Carbon Engineering specializes in the capture of CO2 from the air on an industrial scale. While the process requires energy, this could solve, or at least slow the world’s climate change. Scientists are able to utilize carbon engineering through the Fischer-Tropsch process. Here is how the process works: carbon monoxide and hydrogen are converted into hydrocarbons of various molecules ((2n+1) H2  +  n CO  → Cn H(2n+2)  +  n H2O) (Crocker). The exact chemical compounds needed depends on the desired fuel. In the example above, the outcome would be methane.

How does Carbon Enginering compare to nature’s ability to capture CO2? Carbon Engineering’s machine can clean more air per foot than any plant or tree. Carbon engineering’s machine can clean 7,247 pounds of CO2 a day. An average tree can clean only 48 pounds a year. Climeworks’ machine can clean more than 48 pounds in just three days or 6,205 pounds a year, far out-working the average tree (Belton).

What about using e-diesel? Carbon Engineering has tested e-diesel and proved it works with nearly all diesel vehicles. Carbon Engineering has also priced the e-diesel up to 30%  cheaper than traditional diesel in the UK (Belton). The price mainly depends on government decisions, so this means that for the first time ever, an eco-friendly alternative would cost less than its fossil fuel counterpart.

Climeworks, another company who provides solutions for efficiently capturing CO2 from the air, has created a smaller, more commercial version about the size of two average outdoor AC units put together.

Why use e-diesel instead of renewable energy like hydrogen?  There are already millions of diesel vehicles on the road, and their owners aren’t going to just give them up for hydrogen; however, this process can help transition from fossil fuels to renewables. Plus E-Diesel is better for the environment because it releases less harmful chemicals.

Why do we need e-diesel? If Carbon Engineering gets their machines running on a big enough scale, they could stop more fossil fuels from being mined, and the concentration of C02 in the air would stay steady or barely rise. As long as no fossil fuels are being burned, CO2 levels will stay equal.

                                                   Works Cited

Belton, Padraig. "Diesel from Air." BBC News. BBC, 1 Sept. 2015. Web. 24

               Sept. 2015.

Crocker, Matt ed., Thermochemical Conversion of Biomass to Fuels and 

               Chemicals,  (2010) Royal Society of Chemistry.

               http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34064072

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“Lazarus Taxon Species” by Bree C.

Our world holds many mysteries, such as when animals, long thought to be extinct reappear many years later. Hundreds of these species, called Lazarus taxon, have been rediscovered, some after many years of “extinction”.

The most famous Lazarus species is the Coelacanth, a fish with eight fins, “a heart shaped like a straight tube and 98.5% of its brain case filled with fat” (Rawlings). Believed to have gone extinct over 65 million years ago, the creature was later rediscovered on December 23, 1938 off the South African coast. Another Lazarus taxon example is the Lord Howe Island stick insect, also known as a “land lobster or walking sausage,” which was believed to have gone extinct in the early 1930’s (Nelson). It was rediscovered in 2001 on “Ball’s Pyramid, which is…. a sheer cliff jutting out of the ocean” (Townsend). It’s also considered “the world's tallest and most isolated sea stack” (Nelson).  Another rediscovered species is the terror skink, which was believed to have been rediscovered; it was believed to have gone extinct in the 1930’s, but later, one was photographed in 2003 in France. The Takahē was another animal that was believed to have been extinct since 1898; however, “after a carefully planned search effort”, the brightly colored and endangered, “bird was rediscovered in 1948 near Lake Anau” (Nelson).

    Many species have been rediscovered over the years, including some that scientists didn’t even know existed, but all of these species fall into the category of Lazarus taxon. While it is unlikely that we will find a Gigantopithecus, a large ape that existed nine million years ago, roaming the Earth, we never know what the future may bring, nor do we know what animals the Earth is hiding.

                                                      Works Cited

Nelson, Bryan. “Lazarus Species: 13 'Extinct' Animals Found Alive”. MNN.

          Mother Nature   Network, Nov. 5, 2009. Web. 29. Oct. 2015

          http://tinyurl.com/ptfqn4f

Rawlings, Nate. “Top 10 Not-So-Extinct Animals”. ™. Time Magazine, Jan. 25,

          2015 Web. 02. Oct. 2015. http://tinyurl.com/q2msym4

Townsend, Mindy. “10 Animals We Thought Were Extinct But Aren’t”. C2.

         Care 2, Jun. 7, 2013. Web. 29. Oct. 2015 http://tinyurl.com/nb4spdy

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“ZMapp: The Ebola Cure” by Amity C-S.

          Empty, puffy eyes sit wide open as the baby’s small body begins to shake. Across the village, a mother is sobbing over her child’s corpse being wrapped in cloth for burial. At the cemetery, helpless mothers are being escorted from their children’s funerals.  West African countries such as Sierra Leone and Guinea have been hit hard by Ebola, a virus that is spread from animals to humans and can only be spread through bodily fluids. This disease is also referred to as the “hemorrhagic fever,” causing pain in the body, gastrointestinal problems, redness of the eyes, headaches, sore throat, mental confusion, red spots on the skin, and death.

          Although there is no definite cure, there is a drug that has been created to stop Ebola, called ZMapp, an idea from a San Diego company called Mapp Biopharmaceutical. The drug was created by a Canadian Microbiology lab funded by the Canadian government and takes 6 weeks to make from tobacco. It goes through a separate process to create what could be known as the “Ebola cure”. The creation of ZMapp uses 6000 lbs of new tobacco for each vial of the drug. The tobacco is grown for 24 days, then harvested and pressed into a liquid, creating antibodies that are used multiple times. In 2014, ZMapp cured the first Ebola victim, American doctor Dr.Kent Brantly, who was serving as a doctor for Ebola victims in Sierra Leone when he contracted the disease. Before ZMapp cured Dr. Brantly, there was only enough ZMapp to start a small trial in Liberia.

          Dr. Brantley experienced side effects such as his body shaking violently and worsening breathing, but after the first hour, his breathing improved, and the shaking stopped. After 2-3 hours on the drug, he "was able to get up and walk to the bathroom" (Simon).

          Although ZMapp has cured patients, it isn’t being widely produced because it is made by a workforce of nine, and the process takes six weeks.  ZMapp still needs a randomized trial to make sure it fully works. The drug is still being used as a temporary vaccine for the disease in certain countries as scientists try to figure out more ways to mass produce it.

                                                Works Cited

Simon, Bob. "ZMapp and the Fight against Ebola." CBSNews. CBS Interactive,

            15 Feb. 2015. Web. 01 Oct. 2015. 

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“Paleontologists Upset Over Jurassic World” by Bree C.

Imagine a feathered animal as tall as a four story building with a constant snarl on its face, many feathers, and a rubber-like tail. It has opposable thumbs, large spikes on its back, and is toothless. Jurassic World did just that; they made dinosaurs that didn’t really exist. Paleontologists are upset, and they are giving the movie Jurassic World bad reviews. They believe people may start asking them “dumb questions” that are brought up because of the misrepresentations in the film (St. Fleur).

An example of  something the producers and directors got wrong is the Velociraptors.  Velociraptors did not have feathers, but neither did the other Velociraptors in the first three movies (Jurassic Park, Jurassic Park: Lost World, and Jurassic Park 3). The Velociraptors did not have the capacity to snarl because of the lack of muscles in their face, but as seen in the movie, the Velociraptor in the head cage snarled, which would have been impossible . Many scientists feel that the Velociraptors’ tails could not have been as flexible as they were in the movie because of the hard-fused bones in their tails that would have limited that motion. The fossil records show that these creatures were only 1.6 feet tall.  The same fossil records show that they could not have opened up doors because their wrists were turned inwards (St. Fleur).

The filmmakers also got some of the other dinosaurs wrong. For example, the Mosasaur was incorrect because it was too big, and it did not have spikes going down its back (St. Fleur). What stumped paleontologists is how a mosquito could have gotten the Mosasaur’s blood when it is a marine reptile. Another inaccuracy is the Pterosaurs, which could not have swept people off their feet because they were too small in size for that (St. Fleur). The Tyrannosaurs Rex did not have such an advanced sense of smell. The Gallimimus did not have teeth, and it was missing feathers (Casey).

Paleontologists do admit, though, some things about the dinosaurs were accurate. For example, “the Apatosauruses that died during the movie had the nostrils in the correct place, on their snouts, instead of having them on their heads” (St. Fleur). The Mosasaur was also praised by paleontologists because it had anterior "palatal" teeth, which is a very recent discovery.  

Paleontologists are saying that the movie may spark a new generation of paleontologists. Jack Horner, who helped create the dinosaurs in Jurassic World, says that this movie wasn’t meant to be a documentary, so paleontologists should not be judging the movie like one since even some documentaries get dinosaurs wrong. James Kirkland, state paleontologist at Utah Geological Survey, who has been involved in the discovery of twenty dinosaurs, says that just because some of the dinosaurs were wrong doesn’t mean that they have to expose every single flaw there is with the dinosaurs (Casey). Paleontologists do still admit that they are happy to have the dinosaurs being shown in movies, which may introduce a new generations to the wonders of dinosaurs and fossils.

                                                           Works Cited

Casey, Michael, “Paleontologists Give "Jurassic World" Science 

        Thumbs Down”. CBSN.CBS News, June 11. 2015. October 1. 2015.     

          http://tinyurl.com/oc4ntjq

St. Fleur, Nicholas, “A Paleontologist Deconstructs ‘Jurassic World”. NYT. The

          New York Times, JUNE 12.  2015. October 1. 2015.

          http://tinyurl.com/qy9k395

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“Boeing Plasma Shield”                                                by Seth F.

Whether it’s laser pistols or lightsabers, all sci-fi movies have advanced weapons and defenses that are thought to be impossible to create in the real world. With their most recent patent of a “plasma shield”, Boeing is starting to blur the line between those sci-fi worlds and this one.

The device’s capabilities aren’t as sci-fi as one might think from the name.  Boeing’s current design only has the power to lessen the effects of explosive detonations in the proximity of the field’s emitter. The shield does this through a combination of several technologies heating up the air between the vehicle and the explosion, causing the gas to become plasma, which is more dense than the surrounding air, deflecting the explosive force around the “shield.” The field is currently slow to start, but it can be maintained over distance. To put it simply, the field could be mounted on a vehicle and be active while the vehicle is in motion. Even with such low-current implications, the influence of the device will be enormous for military vehicles and buildings in need of protection.

With the “war on terror” against groups such as ISIS and Al Qaeda, a large number of military casualties come from IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) planted along roads. If military vehicles in areas occupied by the militants were equipped with the shield, it would exponentially increase the likelihood that those manning the vehicle would survive. Though its current limits would not protect from the shrapnel, it could protect civilian buildings in war zones from nearby explosions.

Boeing has no plans to stop research into the device’s capabilities, hoping that future designs could stop projectiles and shrapnel fired at vehicles and buildings with the device in use.     

                                                               Works Cited

Gough, Myles. "Boeing Has Patented a Plasma 'force Field' to Protect Against

               Shock Waves." ScienceAlert. N.p., 30 Mar. 2015. Web. 03 Sept. 2015.