• California Democratic lawmakers want a go-slow approach to fracking

    California may be on the verge of an oil rush. It is estimated that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, at the Monterey Shale formation may tap reserves of fifteen billion barrels of oil. Democratic lawmakers do not see it that way, and have proposed numerous anti-fracking bills aiming to control the use of the controversial technology. Ten bills have been tabled so far, and more are on the way.

  • Laser weapons on ships require reliable shipboard power

    For the first time, a laser weapon system (LaWS) will be placed onboard a deployed ship, USS Ponce, for testing in the Persian Gulf in 2014. The U.S. Navy’s plan to put laser weapons on ships, makes the need for reliable, high-voltage shipboard power a matter of national security.

  • Smartphone technology to accelerate development of unattended sensors

    DARPA wants to develop low-cost, rapidly updatable intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) sensors – to be used by the military on the ground, in the air, at sea, and undersea – in less than a year, a marked improvement to the current three-to-eight year development process. It hopes to do so by using an original design manufacturer (ODM) process similar to that of the commercial smartphone industry.

  • Sandia Lab hosting conversations on engineering

    U.S. prosperity depends on effective use of engineering to turn scientific innovation into products that come rapidly to market and increasingly are made in the United States. Sandia Lab has launched a series of conversations  a aimed to help identify what the nation’s engineering community can do to make sure technical talent will be available in the future, prepare engineers for the twenty-first century, and secure U.S. leadership in a global economy which is increasingly focused on innovation.

  • As wildfires increase, scientists call for more study of terrestrial, atmospheric effects

    Wildfire is a disturbance of ecosystems, and concerns continue to grow about the terrestrial and atmospheric effects of wildfires. Wildfires are expected to increase 50 percent across the United States under a changing climate, over 100 percent in areas of the West by 2050 as projected by some studies.

  • New filtration material to make petroleum refining cheaper, more efficient

    A newly synthesized material might provide a dramatically improved method for separating the highest-octane components of gasoline. The material is a metal-organic framework, or MOF, which can be imagined as a sponge with microscopic holes.

  • Smartphone turned into handheld biosensor

    Scientists and physicians in the field could soon run on-the-spot tests for environmental toxins, medical diagnostics, food safety and more with their smartphones. Researchers have developed a cradle and app for the iPhone that uses the phone’s built-in camera and processing power as a biosensor to detect toxins, proteins, bacteria, viruses, and other molecules.

  • GOP lawmakers urge Obama not to link Keystone decision to climate policies

    Democrats who are uncomfortable with the Keystone XL pipeline have urged President Obama to consider attaching policies requiring cuts in greenhouse gases emissions to his approval of the project. Republican lawmakers are urging the president not to link approval of Keystone to climate change policies.

  • Administration more actively to support expansion of fracking

    The Obama administration is leaning toward offering more active support for the expansion hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, despite the opposition of environmental groups.

  • House will see floor battle today over Keystone XL pipeline

    Republican and Democrats lawmakers are set to engage in a fierce battle on the House floor over the fate of the Keystone XL project. Representative Lee Terry’s (R-Nebraska) proposed legislation to allow TransCanada to start construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which runs from Hardisty, Canada through seven states to Houston, Texas. The bill will come to the House floor today.

  • Senator Hatch champions tech industry’s priorities in immigration reform

    As the Senate Judiciary Committee continues to consider the bipartisan immigration reform bill, both supporters and opponents of the bill agree that one senator has emerged as a key voice on the issue: the 79-year old Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). Hatch has emerged as a champion of the U.S. technology industry, and while he supports the broad goal of immigration reform, he insists on shaping the legislation so it addresses the priorities and preferences of the tech industry, priorities and preferences which he sees as essential not only for the health of the industry, but for the health of the U.S. economy more generally.

  • Algae could become an important source of fuel in U.S.

    A new analysis shows that the U.S. land and water resources could likely support the growth of enough algae to produce up to twenty-five billion gallons of algae-based fuel a year in the United States, one-twelfth of the country’s yearly needs.

  • Compressing air for renewable energy storage

    Enough Northwest wind energy to power about 85,000 homes each month could be stored in porous rocks deep underground for later use, according to a new, comprehensive study. Researchers identified two unique methods for this energy storage approach and two eastern Washington locations to put them into practice.

  • DHS advises Michigan State U on football stadium safety

    By all accounts, Michigan State University’s basketball team has been doing better over the years than the school’s football team (just think Magic Johnson). The university wants to raise the profile of its football team, and is building a new, $24 million stadium — but DHS advised the university that the stadium’s north side stands are too close to the gas tanks and pumps which serve the school’s motor pool. The university is now moving the gas tanks to a new location.

  • Asteroid 1998 QE2, nine times larger than cruise ship, to glide past earth

    Two weeks from now, on 31May 2013, asteroid 1998 QE2 will sail serenely past Earth, getting no closer than about 3.6 million miles, or about fifteen times the distance between Earth and the moon. While QE2 is not of much interest to those astronomers and scientists on the lookout for hazardous asteroids, other asteroids are. NASA recently announced developing a first-ever mission to identify, capture, and relocate an asteroid for human exploration.