The week's strangest stories – all in one place
Forget the Ray Gun and invisible tanks – the next major wars will be conducted in our minds. That's according to a report commissioned by the Defense Intelligence Agency on
Emerging Cognitive Neuroscience and Related Technologies
, which predicts that advances in neurosciences will soon enable the US to literally get inside its enemies minds.
Combined with advances in the detection of psychological states, the neurotechnology could be implemented in a number of ways to "provide insight into intelligence from captured military combatants… [and] to screen terrorism suspects at checkpoints". (Or that's what they want you to think, anyway…)
Cognitive feedback helmets that can remotely view an individual's mental state, mind-machine interfaces – living robots whose movements can be controlled via brain implants – and neuro weapons that stimulate the release of neuro toxins are just some of the tech mentioned in the report.
Adultery on eBay
In other news, furious with her cheating husband, an Australian woman took revenge by placing a photo of his lover's knickers on eBay this week. The eBay listing, entitled "Empty condom packet & a photo of 'The Tart's knickers", also includes an empty condom wrapper – "size small" – and a detailed account of the events leading up to the discovery. The woman told reporters that this would not be her last sale on eBay.
PS3 palaver
Meanwhile, in an unusual twist of fate, an American man who was given a used PS3 as a gift was forced to surrender it to Cleveland police after they came knocking on his door, demanding the console. According to the Salisbury Post, the used system – purchased by his girlfriend from a Cleveland games retailer – had been stolen.
Investigators tracked down the console when Dustin Waller turned on the system thanks to the original user's PlayStation network ID details, which were still stored on the system and set to auto-login. By tracking Waller's IP address, police were able to find him. The store has refused to give Waller a refund, bizarrely offering him an Xbox 360 instead. "It isn't nearly as expensive or sophisticated as the PlayStation," Waller complained.
And finally…
A passenger at Linz airport managed to set off the alarm when his suitcase full of bacon was mistaken for a bomb, according to German news site, Nachrichten.
If the Google-translated reports are to be believed, the man was stopped after a machine detected the bacon – which apparently has the same molecular density as "certain types of explosives". Matters weren't helped when, on being questioned about his suitcase, the man expressed concern that the bacon could actually have been a bomb. His estranged wife had packed his bag, it later transpired.
