Light induced Paralysis

The US army plans to demonstrate the use of a 7.5 million candlepower strobe floodlight system mounted on board an unmanned air vehicle as a non-lethal crowd-control system.

The article says that it produces "a range of physical effects, including short-term paralysis."

Here's the link to the article.

External Link

(Edited because I screwed up the link)

[edit on 21-2-2007 by BlaznRob]

Wow, I thought that project was over.

Yes, it works. It's sort of not eye-safe, which is why I thought the project had been d/c'd.

Anyways, there's several facets to it. One is that very bright light flashes cause neural overload which reduces your ability to respond effectively to other events going on around you. It sort of manifests as confusion and hesitation. You can get somewhat used to it.

Another is that VERY bright light in short pulses will trigger production of alternating waves of glutamate and GABA in parts of the brain. They don't have time to dissipate and build up, it's sort of like doing a speedball I guess, with one being a stimulant and the other a depressant. That causes a sort of deer-in-the-headlights behavior with people totally spacing out. You need blues for this effect.

The other major trick is what we used to call the "looker effect" after the movie. With the right pulse rate and set of colors you can, in a lot of people, induce an absence seizure. Reds and oranges are what you need for this one.

That's why you see the article talk about needing it to be frequency agile, because you need different colors for different effects.

Edit: Like most things, I think there's a way to use it to make you yack too, but that's hearsay.

[edit on 21-2-2007 by Tom Bedlam]