• Design competition for next generation ground vehicle opens

    DARPA is calling on innovators with expertise in designing and engineering drive train and mobility systems collaboratively to design elements of a new amphibious infantry vehicle, the Fast, Adaptable, Next-Generation Ground Vehicle (FANG);the winning team will be awarded a $1,000,000 cash prize and will have its design built in the iFAB Foundry

  • Aussie banks considering biometric security

    Australia’s major banks are considering a move to biometric security systems in an effort to boost security for their customers; the banks are changing their systems as a way for customers to keep their money and valuables safe without ATM cards

  • To ensure success, Mexican drug cartels emulate corporate business model

    When the subject of Mexican drug cartels come up, most people think of bloody violence, pounds of cocaine or marijuana, and so much money people have to weight it instead of counting it; what people do not think about is the business models the cartels emulate – and they emulate the models and management charts of typical American corporations

  • U.S. keeps collecting money for a nuclear waste repository – but has no plans to build one

    Illinois utility customers have paid the U.S government $1.9 billion to store spent nuclear fuel from nuclear plants in the state in a permanent national nuclear waste repository; in the last thirty years, the U.S. government has collected $30 billion from utilities toward this permanent storage, and it keeps collecting $750 million a year; trouble is, in February 2009 the Obama administration decided to “defund” the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository project, and the U.S. government no longer has active plans for a centralized nuclear waste storage facility

  • Biometric technologies adopted by more Australian banks

    The use of face-recognition biometrics technology will soon become main stream in Australian banks, and may even be used in conjunction with other technologies; in a survey, 79 percent of Australians said that they were comfortable with fingerprint technology replacing banking PINs

  • GOP lawmakers advise defense contractors to issue sequestration-related layoff notices

    The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires that an employer who employs more than 100 employees must provide a 60-day advanced notice to employees of mass layoffs or the closing of a plant; if the act is not followed, employees can sue for back pay and benefits for up to sixty days; the Obama administration advised defense contractors that they should not comply with the act, even in the face of the 2 January 2013 $500 billion cut in the defense budget which would go into effect if no deficit reduction agreement is reached; if contracts are cancelled and mass lay-offs ensue, the administration said it would cover the defense contractors’ non-compliance-related legal costs; Republican lawmakers say they would block any payments to cover such non-compliance, and advised defense contractors that they should follow the law

  • New methods might drastically reduce the costs of investigating polluted sites

    In Europe there are over 20,000 complex and large contaminated areas. These so-called megasites threaten scarce land and water resources, create environmental and health risks, and result in economic and social costs; new methods may allow polluted sites to be investigated and monitored long term at significantly reduced costs

  • Congressional panel says two Chinese telecom companies pose “national security threat” to U.S.

    A report by the House Intelligence Committee recommended that the U.S. government be barred from doing business with two Chinese telecommunications firms – Huawei and ZTE – and that American companies should avoid buying their equipment; a committee report said the two companies pose a threat to U.S. national security; installing these companies’ technology in U.S. communication network will not only allow these companies, acting on behalf of the Chinese military and intelligence, to steal sensitive national security information and trade secrets of private U.S. companies – it will also allow China to attack and paralyze large portions of U.S. critical infrastructure

  • Defense firms growing anxious about sequestration-related defense cuts

    Defense contractors are growing anxious as they still do not know whether $500 billion in defense cuts will take place on 1 January 2013 as a result of sequestration; many firms are hoping that the administration and Congress will come to a budget agreement once the election is over, but at the same time, it is something contractors cannot rely on; what complicates the issue is the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN), which requires employers with more than 100 employees to give employees a 60-day notice before mass lay-offs or plant closure

  • Scenario-based gaming exercise to improve intelligence analysis

    Raytheon has created a scenario-based gaming exercise to study in depth the intelligence analyst’s tradecraft; the company says the goal is ultimately to help analysts produce the best intelligence products and streamline workflows

  • NRC sees no evidence of bad security practices at Michigan nuclear plant

    The Nuclear Regulatory Committee (NRC) released  information last week about a leak earlier this summer at the Palisades plant near South Haven, Michigan; the plant has been mired in controversy this year, as at least three water leaks have occurred in the past several months, and the plant has one of the worst safety ratings in the United States

  • Environmentalists concerned about earthquakes tests near California nuclear plant

    The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) wants to use air guns to emit strong sound waves into a large near-shore area which includes parts of marine reserves; the purpose: creating three dimensional maps of fault zones near its Diablo Canyon nuclear plant in California; the plans have federal and state officials concerned about marine life and public safety

  • Dallas area earthquakes were caused by fracking: geophysicists

    Three earthquakes that hit a Dallas suburb last week could be connected to fracking operations, according to a local geophysicist who studies earthquakes in the region; the earthquakes were considered minor, with the biggest one registered at a 3.4 on the Richter scale; no injuries were reported despite many emergency calls

  • Infrastructure security market to reach a value of $32.55 billion in 2012

    The infrastructure security market has rapidly developed over the past decade, with the formation of a host of governmental and international organizations dedicated to homeland security and critical infrastructure protection; a new report says growth trends in the infrastructure protection market will continue

  • Camera for long-range gas leak detection

    New infrared gas imaging camera equipped with a 75 mm lens; it iscertified for use in Class I Div 2 hazardous locations, enabling remote detection and visualization of gas leaks from a great distance