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"The primary attraction [of writing sf] is the sheer pleasure of creating something from whole cloth."
- Dan Simmons
 |
| Tanglefoot Field | ||
| A force field that would not harm but merely entangle and stop anyone (or anything) caught in it. |
At this point in the story, a crowd of unruly aliens are in need of restraint.
| Greenberg slid a hand under his desk and located a control that would throw a tanglefoot field over the lower floor ... a permanent installation; the hall had seen other disturbances. |
| From The Star Beast,
by Robert Heinlein. Published by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1954 Additional resources -
|
Although no one has implemented this idea as an energy field, there is interest in quelling civil disorder using something similar. Once choice is an antitraction gel that is so slippery it is impossible to stand up. The Portable Vehicle Arresting Barrier is a kind of netting that can stop a 7,500 lb. pickup truck going 45 miles per hour, then wrap around to trap the occupants.
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Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
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Negligible increase in weight increased material strength by hundreds of times.
'All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary.'
The number of different ways to span a thread between a larger number of hooks is astronomical.
'This is all coming to you courtesy of the simstim unit wired into your deck, of course.'
What's it like for autonomous trams when they're turned off at night?
'Merton... placed the electrodes of the sleep-inducer on his forehead.'
'... we can descend and live down there at one of those year-round aquatic resorts.'
'...she would have to be coaxed by another series of pats into a circular orbit.'
'The sleek, tapered space shuttle lay immobile upon the private landing field...'
