Tech transfers from military R&D

I used to have a friend that would always tell me that NASA and the DoD were useless. Part of the argument involved the R&D that each group did. I would counter that sometimes we got really cool things from them (microwaves anyone?).

Anyway, I didn't normally have too many 'recent' advances that were useful, but while reading some magazines a few months ago I ran into some cool things.

First one was a neat non-stick coating for pans that came from aircraft coatings. (it can also be used for prosthetics). Quasicrystalline Aircraft Coating Shows Promise for Cookware, Prosthetics
The tech actually came from the missile defense program. They actually don't have the time/money to develop it further, but I would love to see that on pans, teflon sucks (we have a pan that is only about 3 years old? and the teflon is useless (well, and i *might* have used the wrong sponge on it and removed the coating. or cooked with acids, or something)).

Second one is some radar technology being used to help cure breast cancer. Algorithms designed for radars are being applied to microwaves used for cancer destruction. Radar Technology Finds New Target. The algorithms null out the heating outside of the tumor so that good tissue is not destroyed. They are moving forward with this tech, and doing clinical trials.