Latest By
Category:
Armor
Artificial
Intelligence
Biology
Clothing
Communication
Computers
Culture
Data Storage
Displays
Engineering
Entertainment
Food
Input Devices
Lifestyle
Living Space
Manufacturing
Material
Media
Medical
Miscellaneous
Robotics
Security
Space Tech
Spacecraft
Surveillance
Transportation
Travel
Vehicle
Virtual
Person
Warfare
Weapon
Work
"We follow the scientists around and look over their shoulders. They're watching their feet: provable mistakes are bad for them. We're looking as far ahead as we can, and we don't get penalized for mistakes."
- Larry Niven
 |
| Flexible Armor Suit | ||
| A pressure suit that, while flexible, becomes rigid like armor upon impact. |
| He [Nessus the puppeteer] went up a rise, moving slowly, though his feet wanted to dance. He was weaponless, but his suit was a kind of defense. No projectile short of a fast meteorite could harm him. Like a silicone plastic, the pressure suit was soft and malleable under gentle pressures, such as walking, but instantly became rigid all over when something struck it...
The top of the swell behind Nessus suddenly sparkled with harsh blue-white sunlight. ... He saw the light, he curled into a ball, and the ground swell came. It batted him like a beach ball. His rigid, form-fitting shell retained his shape. It could not prevent the ground swell from slamming him away, nor his brain from jarring under its thick skull and its extra padding. |
| From Neutron Star,
by Larry Niven. Published by Worls of If in 1966 Additional resources -
|
This is from "The Soft Weapon" (originally published in Worlds of If, February, 1967) from the Neutron Star story collection.
Thanks to a helpful reader for providing the reference and text quote.
Comment/Join this discussion (BACK ON!) ( 4 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This |
Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from Neutron Star
More Ideas
and Technology by Larry Niven
Tech news articles related to Neutron Star
Tech news articles related to works by Larry Niven
Flexible Armor Suit-related
news articles:
- Liquid Armor In Two Flavors: Shear Thickening and Magnetorheological
- d3o Design Competition To Invent The Future
- Liquid Armor Video Shows Bullets Bounce Off
- Richard Palmer, d3o Inventor, O2 X Entrepreneur of the Year
- DEFLEXION Apparel For Superheroes
- BAE System 'Bullet Proof Custard' Body Armor
| Bionic Body Armor Makes You Dodge Bullets |
| Designer Bulletproof Fashion |
| Super-Suit Fabric Now Available In T-Shirt |
| Exoskeleton Like Halo Suit |
Want to Contribute an
Item?
It's easy:
Get the name of the item, a
quote, the book's name and the author's name, and Add
it here.
| <Previous | Next> |
|
|
|
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
|
How long ago did Robert Heinlein write about skiing on dry alien worlds?
'There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment.'
'A cable, here, from the controller to the interface plug... wires from that to the brain.'
'Everything was ready, awaiting the Overlords' pleasure...'
'Five hundred billion gallons worth of Antarctic iceberg had been towed into Santa Monica Bay.'
'...he would plug his foolscap-sized Newspad into the ship's information circuit and scan the latest reports...'
'He realized that it was not quite a clear lens. Speckles of colored brightness swirled and gathered in it...'
'To recharge the batteries, which can be done in almost every town and village...'
