Top Secret Science in the Military

Although Top Secret Science in The Military is focused on the American military, it will appeal to Canada students who like intrigue and technology. Topics include secret weapons and secrets as weapons, superweapons, stealth technology, RADAR, LASAR, lidar, digital beamforming, fake news as a weapon, the Internet of Things (IoT), facial recognition, codes and code breakers, mind games, and nanorobots.

Every double-page spread throughout the book includes a section titled either “Dark Science Secrets” or “Tomorrow’s Secrets”. “Dark Science Secrets” in the section “Time to Translate” describes the role of Navajo-speakers in World War II.

During World War II, the U.S. military turned to the Navajo Nation, as well as other Native American peoples, to protect its secrets. At the time, the Navajo did not have a written language, and their spoken language was very different from any other language. Non-native speakers had difficulty telling certain tones and phrases apart. This made the language a perfect tool for sending top secret information over the radio. Navajo-speakers were recruited by the Marine Corps, which set up a “Code Talker” school.

Like other books in the “Top Secret Science” series, “Top Secret Science in The Military ends with “Your Mission”. This section is titled “Be a Peace Keeper”. Considering the focus on war and combat throughout the rest of the book, this section gives some balance to the topic of the military.

We have seen how the military has used science and technology to fight wars, but how can we use the same technology for peacekeeping and to save lives when a disaster happens? Rather than a weapon, is there a technology that you can design that could help fighting forces save lives? Imagine you are an engineer and it is your mission to help people in a time of war.

Top Science Secrets in The Military will appeal to some students who want to know more about technology related to war and weapons, and won’t care that the content is entirely about the U.S. military.