Science of James Bond 007's Gadgets

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Blowfeld
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Science of James Bond 007's Gadgets

Post by Blowfeld »

This is part of a old BBC report from around 2004(?).

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007's Gadgets

What would James Bond be without the ever-resourceful Q? The man responsible for 007's gadgets certainly says it best when he tells James: "Without Q department, you would have been dead long ago!"
Gadget:
Blue X-Ray Glasses (The World Is Not Enough, 1999)

007 picks up this pair of blue sunglasses in Q's lab. Both stylish and functional, their X-ray ability allows Bond to wander though a casino viewing concealed weapons and inspecting ladies' lingerie.
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Could it work?
Nice idea, of course, but Bond's glasses stretch the barriers of X-ray technology a little too far. Like light and radio waves, X-rays are a type of electromagnetic radiation. They are most widely used in medicine to visualise bones and organs.

But they also play an important role in security technology. The baggage screening machines used in airports, for example, detect X-rays that are reflected back from an object and display the results on a monitor. These fridge-sized devices will reveal metal objects like knives, guns, maybe even bra fasteners - though not the bra itself. Unfortunately, it requires the subject to stand stationary for a few seconds in order to work properly.

Perhaps the best solution to 007's surveillance problem is the hand-held ultrasound 'flashlight' developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in the US. It's essentially a scaled-down version of the type of scanner used for viewing a foetus inside the womb. It looks like a small windowpane attached to a ray gun. When placed against the patient, sound waves rather than X-rays penetrate into the body. The reflecting echo produces a live moving image.

Gadget:
Imitation Fingerprints (Diamonds Are Forever, 1971)

Q manages to craft a set of false fingerprints from those of Blofeld associate, Peter Franks. With his latex prints in place, 007 manages to successfully impose himself as Blofeld's henchman
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Could it work?
Fake prints made out of common household ingredients can fool expensive biometric security systems which use fingerprints for identification. Researchers in Japan recently tricked one security system by using fake fingerprints lifted from a gelatine mould.

Gadget:
Underwater Breather (Thunderball, 1965)

This emergency device allowed 007 enough oxygen breath underwater for approximately 4 minutes. It saved his life during an underwater battle when his scuba breathing apparatus had been forcefully removed.

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Could it work?
An ingenious idea - unfortunately, it's total fantasy. A 3.8 litre tank contains around 30 minutes of compressed air. The smallest mini breather available is an emergency tank of 0.5 litres of air contained in a tank about the size of a fizzy drink can. It only lasts for about two minutes - or 40 breaths.

Gadget:
Q's Pet (A View To A Kill, 1985)

This prototype surveillance machine is operated by remote control. Its cameras and microphones relay information back to Q in his operations van. Q's pet, the snooper, witnesses Bond girl, Stacy Sutton, exit the shower before having a towel thrown over its head.
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Could it work?
After the terrorist attack on New York, dozens of experimental robots similar to Q's snooper scoured the wreckage of the World Trade Center's collapsed twin towers.

Armed with sensors, bright lights, video cameras and ultrasonic detection devices, these robots were designed to seek out heat, light, motion and colours that might signal a survivor. They were driven by caterpillar tracks and were strong enough to push lumps of concrete out of the way.

Controlled by cables or remote control, some of the robots actually contained other smaller robots within them. Known as 'marsupial' robots - because of their resemblance to kangaroos - they could spit out the smaller daughter robot which was able to manoeuvre through tight crevices or climb over objects.
Gadget:
Jetpack (Thunderball, 1965)

One of the most spectacular gismos, the jetpack, only appears for a moment. Bond straps it on and escapes over a high wall to his waiting Aston Martin DB5 - it's small enough to fit in the boot.
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Could it work?
The jetpack is real and was originally developed for the US Army by Bell Textron Laboratories. High pressure nitrogen gas is released through the nozzles to give a powerful, non-combusting rocket propulsion.

It could carry a person over 9-metre-high (30-foot-high) obstacles at a speed of 11-16km/h (7-10mph). Having just 30 seconds flight time, however, the jetpack was scrapped by the army. These days, it's reserved for novelty value and was used in the 1984 Olympic Games opening ceremony in Los Angeles.
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"Those were the days when we still associated Bond with suave, old school actors such as Sean Connery and Roger Moore,"
"Daniel didn't have a hint of suave about him," - Patsy Palmer
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