"SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea defied world powers and carried out an underground test Monday of a nuclear bomb Russian officials said was comparable to those that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The incident drew condemnation from Washington to Beijing and set the communist regime up for a showdown with the United Nations.Read more... )

http://www.popsci.com/node/19965

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089886/

With a full size space elevator laser, bounced off a climber-mounted mirror, half the Earth is in your line of sight:) No need to send a plane.

"The US Army hopes, within a few years, to deploy a plasma shield - a machine that generates a protective screen of dazzling mid-air explosions - to stun and disorient an enemy."http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/ ( Read more... )