Science and Technology

There are many Technologies and Science that are introduced to the show.

EMP
An EMP, or electromagnetic pulse, is a burst of electromagnetic energy capable of frying electrical technology depending on the strength of the pulse. One source of an EMP is a nuclear blast of which an EMP is a secondary effect.

In Season Three, Raven Reyes worked on building an EMP device to remove the City of Light chip and free those under A.L.I.E.'s control. After Raven fell fully under the AI's control, Jacapo Sinclair finished Raven's device in Nevermore. The device included one of the Delinquent's wristbands and was powered by the rover battery. The EMP fried the chip and freed Raven from A.L.I.E.'s control, liquifying the chip. The liquified chip then had to be removed to fully free Raven who, under A.L.I.E.'s control, claimed that the EMP could give her brain damage.

In Perverse Instantiation (Part 1), Clarke brought a more scaled-down and portable version of the device to Polis to free Ontari so that she could use the Flame to destroy A.L.I.E. This device only had enough charge for one EMP and included an attachment to immediately remove the liquified chip. In Perverse Instantiation (Part 2), after Ontari was rendered brain dead, Clarke instead used the device to free Abby so that she could help Clarke set up an exchange transfusion with Ontari, giving Clarke Nightblood temporarily and thus the ability to use the Flame.

In Nevermind, Clarke learned from a manifestation of A.L.I.E. that she had survived a mind wipe thanks to a neural mesh she'd gained when Clarke had taken the chip to enter the City of Light. However, A.L.I.E. warned that an EMP used to remove the chip from Clarke's head would destroy the neural mesh and render Clarke vulnerable again. A.L.I.E. helped Clarke to protect the memory of using an EMP on Raven, but Clarke later gave it to Josephine Lightbourne. In The Old Man and the Anomaly, Josephine plotted to use an EMP to get rid of Clarke for good and enlisted the help of Murphy, Emori and Ryker Desai to build one. Instead, the group used the EMP device to temporarily take down Sanctum's radiation shield so that Bellamy could take Josephine to Gabriel Santiago.

After Abby was mind wiped and made into the host of Simone Lightbourne, Clarke expressed hope in The Blood of Sanctum that Abby's neural mesh had allowed her to survive. However, Russell Lightbourne had confirmed that the EMP Clarke used on Abby had in fact destroyed the neural mesh before he implanted Simone.

Embryos
In Sanctum, when the Mission Team Alpha landed there, they brought a thousand embryos with them. These embryos were genetically engineered with Nightblood to protect against solar radiation. After some of the team members were killed, Russell Lightbourne and Gabriel Santiago decided to use some of the embryos to breed humans with Nightblood as test subjects. The embryos are fully grown into adult humans in incubators. After the other test subjects failed, the first successful test subject was an Earth embryo 47, named Brooke. After the Primes were "reincarnated" into the bodies of the fully grown embryos with Nightblood, Josephine Lightbourne owned a breeding program that increases the population of Sanctum. The embryos are one of the ancestors of the Sanctum Citizens. Gabriel reveals that many years later, he destroyed the remaining Nightblood embryos in an attempt to stop the resurrections which led to him becoming a fugitive of the Primes.

Hydrazine
It's highly unstable in its nonsolid form and appears dark pink in color. The Delinquents scavenged some from the crashed Exodus ship, then later used a supply under the original dropship. Clarke, Bellamy, and Roan were delivering some Hydrazine to fuel the Rocket on Becca's Island. After Spacekru went up to the Go-Sci Ring, they had less Hydrazine to get back to the ground, leaving them stranded in space, but when Eligius IV arrived in Earth's orbit, they traveled to the mothership and got the Hydrazine there.

Hythylodium
Hythylodium is an incredibly efficient energy source that was first discovered on an asteroid called "Proxima VI". Hythylodium was used to power the Eligius III and IV missions. The toxicity of the Hythylodium caused the lung disease that a large amount of prisoners suffered from. It must be a radioactive-like element as Miles Shaw talked about its half-life in "Damocles (Part 2)".

Hydroponic Farms
The Hydrofarm is a subset of hydroculture, which is a method of growing plants without soil by using mineral nutrient solutions in a water solvent. There was a hydrofarm in the Second Dawn Bunker. During the time in the bunker, Kara Cooper told Octavia that a fungus started eating the soybeans. Cooper managed to remove a few healthy plants away from the fungus to prevent the beans from vanishing. It would take a year before the fungus, and the healthy plants regrowed to an fair amount for the population in the bunker. In The Warrior's Will, Monty and Harper interrupt the fight. Monty is seen carrying a flowering plant. He says the farm is working again, due to his algae. Everyone starts cheering Monty and saying "Nou Blodreina nowe!" ("Red Queen no more!) Octavia slips away from the chaos. Soon the fire alarm starts blaring. When Monty, Harper and Indra check the Hydrofarm, she sees Octavia standing in front of the doorway, watching it burn. Indra tells them that she took away the choice.

There was also a hydrofarm on the Ark, in a station called "Agro" or "Farm" station. Kara Cooper was said to be a 3rd generation farm manager on the Ark. Mount Weather also had a hydrofarm that produced food for its inhabitants.

Mindspace
The Mindspace happens when the brain creates these constructs when two minds share a body. It's a self preservation, trying to keep the minds separate so the body doesn't die. As seen with Clarke Griffin and Josephine Lightbourne, the two minds can interact within the Mindspace, but risk merging as a result. They can also kill each other. However, while a Prime's Mind Drive backs up their mind and effectively resurrects them, the host's death in the Mindspace would be permanent. After the barrier between their minds disappears, the Mindspaces of Josephine and Clarke becomes combined. As a result, their minds are far more vulnerable to each other within the Mindspace with Clarke able to erase some of Josephine's memories by floating them using her Mindspace's airlock. Projections of various memories began appearing within the Mindspace and Josephine was able to take an axe from one of her memories into the Mindspace while Clarke could make a gun appear. After Clarke floated a lot of memories, the Mindspaces became separate once again, but combined again after Josephine used the neural mesh to prevent being removed with her Mind Drive. While originally killing one of the minds inside the Mindspace caused no permanent harm to Josephine while the barrier between the minds still existed, this protection disappeared once the Mindspaces became combined. As a result, Clarke was able to destroy Josephine's consciousness for good by shattering her projection in the Mindspace with an axe.

Neural Mesh
The Neural Mesh is an artificial barrier that was created in Clarke's mind, due to her experiences with A.L.I.E., when she took the chip to enter the City of Light. It prevented Clarke's consciousness from being erased by the drug used by the Primes so they can implant Josephine Lightbourne's Mind Drive into her. The neural mesh protected Clarke's mind and kept her alive. However, it remains reliant on the chip remaining in Clarke's head and if it is removed with an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) as Clarke once did to free Raven Reyes and her mother, the neural mesh will be gone and Clarke will be vulnerable to having her mind erased. When Gabriel Santiago removes Josephine's Mind Drive, Josephine's mind is able to remain in Clarke's body by latching onto the neural mesh as well. However, their minds having combined allows Clarke to destroy Josephine for good. Its subsequently confirmed that nothing remains of Josephine on the Mind Drive. Clarke later poses as Josephine claiming to have been the one to win the battle, but as a result of using the neural mesh, is no longer effectively immortal until "she" gets a new Mind Drive. After her mother is turned into a host for Simone Lightbourne, Clarke is hopeful that Abby also survived due to a neural mesh. However, Russell Lightbourne tells her that he checked before implanting Simone and confirms that the EMP did destroy Abby's neural mesh and she is gone.

Nightblood (Serum)
"Nightblood" is an experimental serum created by Becca Franco. According to the records, she first developed it for the Eligius Mining Company to protect against solar radiation for long duration space missions. She later used the serum to help the human body not reject the A.L.I.E. 2.0, protecting the body against radiation emitted from the device. In addition, it also helps the human body metabolize nuclear radiation. Becca made the cells combine by experimenting in space with perfluorochemicals and oxygenators, the building block of artificial blood. The serum genetically modifies the user's DNA and causes them to have black blood. The term "Nightblood" is also used to refer to people who have been injected with the serum or who have inherited the genetic modifications causing the black blood.

Flares
Flares used by the Delinquents to signal The Ark, burned down a Grounder village and started the war with the Grounders.

In Sanctum, a group consisting of Jackson, Murphy, Clarke, Bellamy, Echo, Shaw and Emori use flares to fend off the insects on the new habitable world. Soon after they cross the radiation shield, they are safe from the alien insects, their flares burn out.

Cryopods
A Cryopod is a stasis chamber that puts a person into a suspended animation called "Cryosleep", by using cryonics to prevent aging, during space travel.

On Eligius IV, the prisoners and crew members used the cryopods to get to the asteroid Proxima 6. The survivors from the Damocles Event were put into cryosleep for 125 years until they were sent to the new habitable world.

Sonic Drill
The Sonic Drill is a mining tool used to break rocks and minerals, during the mining operation in space. These are also used as weapons.

Lasercom
Laser Communications or Lasercom was used for long distance space communication. After the Second Nuclear Apocalypse, radio waves were blocked by residual radiation on the Earth, but Lasercom could still be used since it was designed to cut through worse atmospheric conditions.

Radiation Chamber
The Radiation Chamber is a machine that Becca conducted her research on, in an effort to find a cure for cancer. Abigail Griffin and Eric Jackson also used it.

Shock Collar
The Shock Collars, also known as the Pulse Collars, are electrical collars used by the Eligius Corporation to control prisoners. After the prisoners' successful coup, they use it on people they can't trust and for torture.

Rock Crusher
The Rock Crusher was used by the Eligius Corporation, during the mining operation. In Damocles (Part 2), McCreary used the Rock Crusher to torture Shaw, to get Raven to fly the ship.

Radiation Shield
The Radiation Shield is a defense technology that is used to protect the settlement on Alpha. It is powered, along with everything else in Sanctum, by Nuclear Reactor in the basement of the Palace. Shooting a flare gun at the barrier or using EMP on the tower takes it down. It was created by Ryker Desai.