Screaming Penguin - Source Does Matter

Blah blah blah. New Scientists little moral objections aside, this is really really cool:

One document, a research contract between the Office of Naval Research and the University of Florida in Gainesville, US, is entitled "Sensory consequences of electromagnetic pulses emitted by laser induced plasmas".

It concerns so-called Pulsed Energy Projectiles (PEPs), which fire a laser pulse that generates a burst of expanding plasma when it hits something solid, like a person (New Scientist print edition, 12 October 2002). The weapon, destined for use in 2007, could literally knock rioters off their feet.
Pain trigger

According to a 2003 review of non-lethal weapons by the US Naval Studies Board, which advises the navy and marine corps, PEPs produced "pain and temporary paralysis" in tests on animals. This appears to be the result of an electromagnetic pulse produced by the expanding plasma which triggers impulses in nerve cells.

The new study, which runs until July and will be carried out with researchers at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, aims to optimise this effect. The idea is to work out how to generate a pulse which triggers pain neurons without damaging tissue.

The contract, heavily censored before release, asks researchers to look for "optimal pulse parameters to evoke peak nociceptor activation" - in other words, cause the maximum pain possible. Studies on cells grown in the lab will identify how much pain can be inflicted on someone before causing injury or death.

Source

Look people. There are already plenty of ways to torture someone, another isn't going to change whether or not Rumsfeld and Gonzales are going to tell people to do it.

There are not, however, plenty of non lethal weapons out there. I have to admit, I am really tired of hearing people complain about Tasers and whatnot. We need more non-lethal, effective weapons. Of course there is the potential for abuse, but as the NYPD reminds us, you can abuse someone with a broomstick. That doesn't mean we should look into broomstick control.