General / Off-Topic Shields in the real world

[Yaffle]

Not too sure if anyone caught this - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/0...le_with_todays_tech_but_with_a_small_problem/ but it's about how shields could be used. There are a couple of downsides though.

The research, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Special Physics Topics, posits that an effective shield could be built using a ball of super-hot plasma that would surround the spacecraft to protect it from laser fire. The denser the plasma, the more effective it would be at deflection.