Fire Extinguishing Wand of the Day: DARPA is currently developing a fire-suppressant wand that can quell flames just by waving over them, no water or chemical foam necessary.
The wand apparently uses electromagnetism and acoustics to destabilize the fire and kill the flames, while preventing collateral damage to property. It hasn’t yet met the project’s goal of working instantly, but it can put out small fires within a few seconds.
The next challenge for the project is scaling the wand up so it’s effective against larger fires.
