Bulletproof technology has certainly come a long way since Marty McFly bluffed his way through that Wild West shootout, as evidenced by this incredible video of a bullet getting a taste of its own medicine courtesy of the next big thing in body armor.
Designed by Afsaneh Rabiei of North Carolina State University, the projectile-smashing material on show consists primarily of a super-strong yet ultra-light composite metal foam (CMF), made of hollow steel spheres – each measuring 2 millimeters in diameter – embedded in a stainless steel matrix. While you’d probably expect a bullet to make mincemeat of such a squishy substance, the foam actually absorbs the kinetic energy of the moving ammunition.
Bullet go smash — I first read that as “Buffalo go smash”, which I presumed was a reference to “Buffalo Jump Head Smash”, or more correctly “Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump” (apparently known to the First Nations as Estipah-skikikini-kots).
Apropos of nothing much, I first heard of Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump via a legendary British folk(-rockish) group, The Albion Band, who wrote an instrumental piece after visiting the site on a tour of Canada, the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Reel.
Heh. No, that’s something different. Really different. :D
Oh, I dunno. Whilst I think The Albion Band is currently taking one of their, um, periodic “rests”, they could still write a Smashing Bullets tune, which sounds about right for Morris Dancers (or at the least the sad kind who think it’s all about whacking the sticks…).
Or… The buffalo might have liked some body armour.
Blf:
Now that sounds right interesting. Bet it would be a hit, too.
Having been around buffalo more than once, boy, would you ever need a whole lot of armor.