Your body uses electricity to move your muscles. A Taser essentially overwhelms that system, causing temporary paralysis. But few independent studies have been done on the weapons.
Copyright 2005 NPR
David Kestenbaum is a correspondent for NPR, covering science, energy issues and, most recently, the global economy for NPR's multimedia project Planet Money. David has been a science correspondent for NPR since 1999. He came to journalism the usual way — by getting a Ph.D. in physics first.