5.
Click the pic to watch more.
THE SUPERHERO: Batman
THE SUPERPOWER: A ridiculously expensive suit that is not only bullet-proof, but extremely light, agile, comes with an insane amount of Terminator-like visual displays and still allows people to run and flip around like an acrobat.
THE REAL-LIFE TECHNOLOGY:
Inciting a pattern of military spending on superhero technology, here is the Air Force’s gift to the Batman mythology: BATMAN, or Battlefield Air Targeting Man-Aided knowledge (I know, kind of a stretch, right?) Besides the effort put into the name, the project is an attempt to modernize the gear commandos take with on combat missions, the overall aim being that the gear must be “lighter, smarter, deadlier” and more covert just like Batman’s. While a soldier usually has to carry 160 pounds of equipment, the BATMAN enhanced tech can decrease the payload and ensure more agility. So like all that cool Batman electronic technology we see in the movies, the soldiers here have a small computer near their chests that tells them their logistical position and what tactics they can implement for any given situation. That’s right, it’ll even include awesome communications gear, badass helmet displays, a headset (of course) and a computer (along with the ridiculous amount of batteries they’ll need to keep these things rockin’ on the battlefield.) In case these new Dark Knights run out of juice, though, the suit also creates the option of refueling with the Bat Hook. A hook is thrown onto a power line and the hook slurps down power to keep BATMAN alert at all times. If they could combine their technology with this awesome real-life utility belt that an MIT student created, they would be well on their way… now just to keep tabs on the richest men in the world who don’t look turtles who’ve lost their shells… The news report was unclear as to whether or not the suit would, in fact, be equipped with nipples.
4.
Click here to watch more.
THE SUPERHERO: The Invisible Woman (or the Predator, from the movies)
THE SUPERPOWER: Invisibility
THE REAL-LIFE TECHNOLOGY:
Scientists in Tokyo University, Japan, have invented a coat which makes those wearing it appear “invisible”. The coat is made with a special type of “retro-reflective material” that acts as a photographic screen. A camera exists behind the person who is wearing the coat and that camera reflects onto the coat so that the wearer appears transparent. Before it’s “turned on”, it looks like a normal gray windbreaker. The practical application of this? Well, other than being mind-blowingly awesome, it is actually to help surgeons see patient’s bodies all the way through, so that they can analyze every single part, never missing a tumor or what they can’t see behind organs normally. This can also be used by pilots, to make the floors of their planes appear transparent to help them land… which if they did to the entire plane would then be Wonder Woman technology. More recently, US and UK scientists have developed a technology that bring us one step close to something that is less like the moderate invisibility invented by the Japanese and are closer to TRUE invisibility, but don’t get your Hollow-Manesque fantasies rockin’ just yet, this wouldn’t hit the market for YEARS. “Scientists from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany and Imperial College London used their cloak, made using photonic crystals with a structure resembling piles of wood, to conceal a small bump on a gold surface, they wrote in Science. “It’s kind of like hiding a small object underneath a carpet — except this time the carpet also disappears,” they said. “We put an object under a microscopic structure, a little like a reflective carpet,” said Nicholas Stenger, one of the researchers who worked on the project. “When we looked at it through a lens and did spectroscopy, no matter what angle we looked at the object from, we saw nothing. The bump became invisible,” said Stenger. The “cloak” they used to make the microscopic bump disappear was composed of special lenses that work by bending light waves to suppress light as it scattered from the bump, the study says. The invisibility cloak was minute, measuring 100 microns by 30 microns — one micron being one-thousandth of a millimeter — and the bump it hid was 10 times smaller, said Stenger. The researchers are working now to recreate the disappearing bump but on a larger scale, but Stenger said Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak would not be hanging in would-be wizards’ wardrobes in the near future. “Theoretically, it would be possible to do this on a large scale but technically, it’s totally impossible with the knowledge we have now,” he said.”
3.
Click the pic to watch more.
THE SUPERHERO: Daredevil
THE SUPERPOWER: Sees using only sound, and can therefore “see” better than anyone. Peak physical strength and enhanced hearing, and an insane ability in acrobatics.
THE REAL-LIFE SUPERPOWER:
Ben Underwood is a blind boy whose eyes were removed (he lost them to cancer) when he was three leaving him with absolutely no vision at all. He can play video games, he can shoot a great game of basketball, he rides his bike around town (Sacramento, California) and even rollerblades every now and then. He can also find objects around the house for his mom. Ben uses many aides for the blind, like a braille keyboard and sound software for the blind to use computers. But according to this report, it’s what he doesn’t use that makes him remarkable. He doesn’t use a seeing eye dog, or even a cane. He emits a moderately loud click with his mouth wherever he goes, which allows him to use the bouncing off of the sound to “hear” his surroundings. He can “see” walls, couches, desks, stairs and anything else around him. This allows him to move around like someone who could see. This isn’t “easy” or even possible for normal people. He is the only person in the world who “sees” using only echo-location, kind of like a bat. Check out the video for a 10-minute feature on Ben and his incredible abilities. Now all he needs to do is become a lawyer (like the Daredevil in the comics) and make sure the Ben Affleck doesn’t get the rights to his life story.
2.
Click the pic to watch more.
THE SUPERHERO: The Human Torch
THE SUPERPOWER: Controlling heat/fire and emitting it at will, aka Pyrokinesis.
THE REAL-LIFE SUPERPOWER/ABILITY:
A Qigong Master uses his Chi energy to create heat using minimal friction and is actually able to steam water using his hand without even touching it. He uses heat healing to help people with back problems. Using an infrared camera, Ripley’s Believe It or Not shows the man’s hands directly applying heat to objects using nothing but his bare hands. He can increase and decrease the heat of water, or any moist object, at will. He was able to, using only his hand, generate heat of up to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. He can heat a water on a damp towel to 10 degrees below boiling point and actually walk on suspended sheets of paper without breaking them because, according to him, he makes himself lighter by focusing his energy.
1.
Click the pic to watch more.
THE SUPERHERO: The Hulk
THE SUPERPOWER: Super strength, impenetrability via genetic mutation.
THE REAL-LIFE SUPERPOWER/ABILITY:
A rare genetic condition is giving 3-year old Liam Hoekstra, Michigan, the ability eat like a horse and not gain any weight whatsoever, lift large furniture that most adults would have trouble lifting and increase in muscle strength by just living out his normal life. At 3 years old. He’s a toddler. His condition was first suspected when he (no foolin’ here) was able to walk at an early age… just how early? 2 days. The child was able to walk after only 2 days of life. He can also do the Olympic move called the Iron Cross where they hold themselves up with only their hands. The genetic disease/condition that the kid has is called Myostatin-Related Muscle Hypertrophy. There have only been 100 cases of this in the world. There’s a defect in his genetic code that allows for excessive muscle growth. So the defect blocks the antibody that usually inhibits muscle growth in the human body, so it’s almost a double-negative situation where the disease blocks the blocker, therefore giving the child incredible muscle strength. There are no medical downsides and his heart will be unaffected. The only downside is that he eats 6 enormous meals a day. He also has a six pack, without even really working out, and looks otherwise no different from other children: his muscles are just that much stronger. So medically, if they were able to replicate this condition it would be open to abuse from athletes, but also open for extremely important use by people with diseases like muscular dystrophy.
DJ Storm's Blog 