Technically, that flying saucer to the left there is known as a wingless electromagnetic air vehicle, or WEAV for short. We'll just scream "UFO!" and run from it in terror, though, if that's OK.
It runs on "magnetohydrodynamics" - a way of propelling vehicles by ionising air with an electrical current then shooting it out at great speed. The thing also spins, to help keep it stable. It is, basically, your archetypal flying saucer.
The dream-machine of University of Florida scientist Subrata Roy, WEAV will be undergoing test flights possibly as early as this autumn. "If this works and we are able to fly it, this will be a quantum shift in how we see flying objects," said Roy, no doubt with half a mind on making several billion pounds by selling the idea to the military.
The test flights will hopefully be taking place over small farms in isolated parts of America, with a man playing a theremin hiding nearby to provide the soundtrack.
(Via Discovery)
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