plasma

Emergency medical care for soldiers wounded on the battlefield has come a long way since Hawkeye and Hot Lips. But for Special Forces troopers operating deep behind enemy lines, that care often remains out of reach. Blood loss in particular makes seconds count, and imperils commandos operating far away from friendly bases.

To help with the problem of blood loss from traumatic wounds, the military has started field-testing a device more Mandalorian than M.A.S.H.: a plasma knife.

Spacecraft headed to Mars or beyond may harness a new source of propulsion that could refuel almost anywhere in the solar system. Last week, the VASIMR prototype plasma rocket achieved 200 kilowatts of power, the milestone the team was striving for. Now they are beginning development of a flight-capable version, slated for launch in 2013.

For those of you who think that sonic micropulses are the future of tooth care, prepare to set your faces to stun. Scientists at the University of Southern California (USC) have developed a tiny, cool, plasma blowtorch that breaks apart the sticky bonds that holds plaque to a tooth. However, unlike the hot plasma at the center of stars and lightning bolts, this plasma torch is no warmer than room temperature, as demonstrated here by an especially daring dentist.

How could a technology be failing if it performs better and costs less than its competitor? That's probably what plasma TV makers keep asking themselves, and one we're been thinking about since both Pioneer and Vizio pulled out of the business last month. So we asked a few folks in the biz for their thoughts.

Rome was neither built nor disassembled in a day. While historians point to September 4, 476—the overthrow of the last emperor—as the date it all fell apart, the fall really began decades earlier and continued for decades afterwards.

While all consumer electronics items have large ecological footprints, plasma TVs have long had the distinction of being size XXL. But Panasonic is out to change that with a new line of ultra-efficient (and ultra-thin) panels called NeoPDP.

The technology appears this summer in the Z1, a 54-inch (diagonal) screen measuring about one inch thick. It's also equipped with a wireless receiver that can pick up video beamed from across a room.

Trash is a stinky topic. With 130 million tons of it hitting landfills annually, it is the nation's largest human-caused producer of methane gas. And now, residents in Florida's St. Lucie County are turning that stench to gold. Or at least to gas. The county has paired up with Atlanta-based company Geoplasma to implement a plasma gasification plant.

We had a quick phone call with Russ Johnson of Pioneer yesterday evening to find out what the decision to stop making plasma modules means. While Russ didnt have answers to all our questions, we got a much clearer picture, so to speak.

He confirmed that Panasonic will provide the plasma modules—essentially the basic screen, without most of the electronics and the color filter. And though he didnt say explicitly, we got the impression that Pioneer will be taking what Panasonic is giving, rather than dictating a design based on Pioneers plasma technology. This has to be a disappointment to Pioneer fanboys and girls, but it may not be a complete tragedy.

Sure, they are pricey energy hogs, but dang, those Pioneer Kuro plasma TVs are stunning. Crisp pictures, gorgeous colors and sky-high contrast ratios that make the movie characters practically jump off the screen.

So it was with great alarm and sadness that we got the news that Pioneer still stop making those incredible panels. By my reckoning, it will be at least another three years of eating nothing but beans and rice until I can afford to buy one of the sets, and I suppose they may all be sold out by then.