Sunday, April 05, 2009

New Tires Inspired By Bees

Entomologists/Armor Makers/Engineers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have created tires for the military (or hyperbolic rap stars') Humvee that are bullet proof. Okay, the developers not really insect scientists, but they did use the honeycomb pattern that busy little bumble bees use. They just used it to stop bullets.
More importantly, though, these new, sweet (get it?), airless tires can survive landmine attacks. IED (improvised explosive devices) take many forms, but landmines (like at the beginning of Ironman) are one of the most nefarious. These tires can sustain a blast like that and still drive away at 50 mph.
The tires are currently in development, and mind-blowingly, cost about the same to make as normal tires. If they decide to go forward with them, they should be avaialble in 2011. Also, I am now more terrified than ever of bees.
[Source]

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2 comments:

Lily said...

I read that soem time ago, when I had problems commenting and just had to leave your site without doing so.
I found this article very intersting and wonder when it's comming up on "future wapons".

alilbit said...

It can't come too soon for the military that's for sure!Ty Sarah I am glad you liked it