Slashdot linked up news that we are one step closer to everyone's favorite BFG:

Scientists at the Sandia National Labs in Albuquerque, New Mexico have accelerated a small plate from zero to 76,000 mph in less than a second. The speed of the thrust was a new record for Sandia's "Z Machine" - not only the fastest gun in the West, but in the world too.

The Z Machine is now able to propel small plates at 34 kilometers a second, faster than the 30 kilometers per second that Earth travels through space in its orbit about the Sun. That's 50 times faster than a rifle bullet, and three times the velocity needed to escape Earth's gravitational field.

In essence, a magnetic pulse gun. LiveScience.com even has a picture of the thing. It also apparently has uses in fusion research, even if that's not quite as cool. ;)