• Army seeks long distance explosive detection scanners for people

    The U.S. Army is seeking to rapidly deploy long distance chemical detection devices that are capable of detecting explosives hidden on people; ideally, the devices will be able to sense the presence of explosives and chemicals on people standing, walking, or running from as far away as 100 yards; the Army wants to be able to field these capabilities within a year, so it is only considering mature technologies that are ready to be implemented; the request for proposals will close on 6 May

  • Russia to employ hi-tech bomb-sniffing dog

    In response to a series of terrorist attacks, Russia’s president Dmitry Medvedev has called on Russian military and security services to train more dogs as bomb sniffers; the dogs are trained not only in identifying explosives, but are also trained in carrying walkie-talkies so they can be given instructions from a distance, and to carry portable video cameras for in-building surveillance

  • U.S. military robot to help detect radiation at Fukushima

    The modified a military robot to navigate around Fukushima plant and produce a color-coded map of radiation levels; the robot includes a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive detection kit that can identify more than 7,500 environmental hazards, including toxic industrial chemicals and volatile gases; it also has temperature and air quality indicators and night vision, and it can sense sounds up to 1,000 meters away; the robot joins other pieces of specialized equipment, donated by QineticQ to help Japan deal with the crisis

  • Spate of dry-ice bombs explosions in Long Beach, Calif.

    A Long Beach officer is injured after an investigation of a dry-ice bomb left in an alley; a dry ice bomb is a homemade device that uses water, a bottle and dry ice, or frozen carbon dioxide; it can take anywhere from thirty seconds to an hour for a dry-ice bomb to rupture, depending on temperatures outside of the bottle