It’s always interesting when you come across a paper that makes you say to yourself ‘Yeah! That makes sense’. I had that feeling last week when I saw this one pop up on the pre-press website arXiv.org.
Dr Timo Nieminen of the University of Queensland explores why armies in China and Mongolia persisted with bows and arrows, despite inventing gunpowder. He concluded that it was the composite bow – a complex construction that took a year to build and was far superior to firearms up to the 17th century – that kept them shooting arrows at their enemies.
It’s an interesting read and you can read Stuart Gary’s story about the paper on ABC Science Online. I wonder what Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs and Steel, would think?
Forget rockets and space planes. In future we might be taking an elevator into space.