Battle Extraction And Retrieval (BEAR) robot

For future battlefields, this conceptual robot and working prototypes has many possibilities for defense and the private sector. "BEAR robot carries injured soldiers to safety". In the private sector, for assisting the disabled and elderly would be a practical application of this idea. VECNA Technologies is the company researching BEAR.

Electromagnetic Propulsion using Microwaves

Imagine hovering vehicles that do not have wings. I just bumped across an posting on Slashdot "Thrust from Microwaves - The Relativity Drive" that mentions this. Roger Shawyer calls it emdrive and NASA and China are serioulsy looking into this for a future space propulsion system. The orignal NewScientist article "Relativity drive: The end of wings and wheels?" describes it in more detail and has an interesting conceptual picture of what may be possible.

Japanese WWII Sen Toku Secret Submarines

In August 2006 I saw a History Channel special on the secret Japanese WWII attack submarine called Sen Toku (secret attack submarine). Prior to seeing this documentary, I had never even heard about this huge submarine because it was intentionally kept a secret by both Japan and US governments. What surprised me is the size of the submarines (Sen Toku I-400 submarine class). Up until the 1960s, these were the largest and most sophisticated submarines built by man. I think to this day they are the only submarines capable of launching bombers. Each of these submarines carried 3 full size naval bombers and spare parts for a fourth.

Here's some additional info about the Sen Toku. Promare 2004 exploration, "Ambitious Ideas" Japan's Submarine Warfare".

Area 51 Recent Increased Activity

Activity has been increasing at the most famous secret US air base. I initially saw this at CNET "Are these planes flying at Area 51". Popular Science recently published an story discussing this, "The Top Secrect Warplanes of Area 51". There are some pretty cool pictures at the Popular Science site of these exotic aircraft.