The description of the video on YouTube provides some insight. The inventor says that the system is compatible with grooves, siping, and all the “normal” tread features of a regular tire. I’m not clear on one thing, though - I believe the tires might be solid.

Get ready for a nostalgia bomb...

Shiny, mach 2.8 objects.

What, no snarky opening comment about how the Brexit vote has already lead to a crippling lugnut shortage in England? Feeling OK today, Raph?

I fail to see how this makes it appreciably less effective as a countermeasure, especially since any sort of reflective coating is going to be so much less expensive than a multi-spectrum laser.

I think you a noun in the headline, Jason.

Proofread your own shit, because ain’t nobody there who will do it for you...

Sorry, Hank... Visible light, IR, and UV are all going to get reflected by a mirrored surface. As an example, let’s examine the classic Dewar flask, AKA “Thermos” - silvered glass with a vacuum drawn between the inner and outer layers to prevent heat transfer (as much as possible) by conduction AND radiation.

True enough. But even an imperfect mirror finish increases engagement time, and what a ship-borne laser would be really good at is quickly engaging multiple targets in a saturation attack. It’s such a cheap countermeasure for things like supersonic cruise missiles that I can’t imagine it will be long before we start…

The problem with laser weapons is that the most effective countermeasure is also cheap and reasonably easy to implement - Put a mirror finish on your missile/plane/drone/boat/whatever.

The Corvette has been mid-engine since the 1997 model year. Stop using the wrong words when you mean mid-rear.

Way to inject some personal, non-relevant political opinion into a story on a car site, Raph! Good job. Now that you have that out of the way, maybe you could start proofreading and editing stories instead of just pushing “publish” on typo-ridden content.

Rule #1 of fighting explosives fires (including fireworks):

Nothing attempted about it!

When will we demand that vehicles come equipped with a separate, failsafe mechanism to keep them in place should the transmission parking pawl fail or the gear selector get inadvertently left in neutral? Some sort of “parking brake” that the driver could engage that would secure the vehicle, no matter what position…

The phrase “brave journalism” was not always limited to personal essays about romantic relationships.

I imagine for another normal person this would throw them out on the streets.

The NR was a solution to a very specific, man-made problem, and it had a lot of issues. It’s hard to make rings that work, and even harder to hone the “cylinders.”

Next time, they won’t use aircraft as weapons. It will be suicide bombers with big rolling carryons stuffed with explosives and shrapnel, standing in the middle of crowded security lines, probably during a holiday rush.

I’m saying that at first glance, it seems to have similar engineering problems. And I’m saying that if I was one of the guys who designed it, overcoming those problems would be the first thing I crowed about, because it would also be the first thing internet naysayers would bring up.

Hmm. Same sealing issues as a Wankel though, and the same lubrication problem. Despite what they’re saying, I think it will be just as “dirty” as a Wankel, and have the same fuel efficiency constraints due to the high surface to volume ratio of the “combustion chamber/cylinder.” You can’t really beat a round piston in…