It seems wind turbines aren’t just stirring up energy, but a fair bit of emotion, too. And when that emotion comes in the form of gunshots, it makes the news.

In early December someone sabotaged poor wind turbine number 8 in a wind farm in Bingham township, Michigan by taking out its transformer. The Huron Daily Tribune reports:

A hole found in the transformer’s radiator resulted in damage, which caused oil to leak out. The exact amount of damage to the $50,000 transformer was not reported. The hole in the transformer, according to police, appears to be from a small caliber firearm…. Huron County Sheriff Kelly J. Hanson said the damage to the transformer appears to be “intentional sabotage.”

The hole in the wind turbine’s transformer caused it to break down, which resulted in the turbine overheating and automatically shutting down. The shooter remains on the lam, and his motives are not clear, says Treehugger:

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You may recall the so-called “pain guns” that the U.S. military has been working on for some time. Maybe you thought that the contraptions, which would shoot out low-intensity microwaves to cause a painful skin sensation, could do you no harm, so long as there wasn’t a soldier aiming a futuristic-looking zap-gun at you.

Think again: An antenna that emits the waves and can be carried by aircraft is now in development by the Pentagon as a not-usually-deadly way to control large groups of people.

New Scientist reports:

The transmitting antenna on the current system is 2 metres across, produces a single beam of similar width and is steered mechanically, making it cumbersome. At the heart of the new weapon will be a compact airborne antenna, which will be steered electronically and be capable of generating multiple beams, each of which can be aimed while on the move.

This system remains controversial, and it’s not hard to see why: Although the intensity of the microwaves that would ordinarily be used do not skin damage, an intensity slightly higher than that can cause severe burns. That happened in 2007, when a U.S. airman received second-degree burns while testing the device.

So whether skin is entirely microwave-safe remains to be seen.

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Discoblog: Nuke Your Tumors! Surgeons Use Microwaves to Zap Cancer
Discoblog: Using Microwaves to Zap Marine Stowaways

Image: flickr / Dmitri P.

Using microwaves to cook food was sooo yesterday. These days, microwaves can do nearly anything. Scientists are using them to kill off marine life, and police might soon use guns that shoot them to stop fleeing suspects. Now, doctors are trying to use microwaves to save lives—by zapping liver cancer.

Due to an increase in hepatitis infections and conditions like cirrhosis, liver cancer has become one of the most common cancers in the world. Normally, patients suffering from liver cancer would have to undergo invasive treatments, ranging from removal of the liver to chemotherapy. It’s often difficult for surgeons to remove bits and pieces of the cancer without removing the whole liver. But not every patient is lucky enough to get a liver transplant when they need one.

As a result, doctors in San Diego are tapping into microwave power as a less invasive and more available means of conquering tumors.

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