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Groundwater pumping causes sea level rise, canceling out effect of dams
Those in charge of infrastructure protection must now worry about another source of sea level rise: water pumped out of the ground for irrigation, drinking water, and industrial use; this water ends up emptying into the world’s oceans, and scientists calculate that by 2050, groundwater pumping will cause a global sea level rise of about 0.8 millimeters per year
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NASA's new carbon-counting instrument ready for lift-off
Carbon dioxide is the most significant human-produced greenhouse gas and the principal human-produced driver of climate change; new NASA spacecraft will uniformly sample the atmosphere above Earth’s land and ocean, collecting more than half a million measurements of carbon dioxide concentration over Earth’s sunlit hemisphere every day for at least two years
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An 8th grader from Indiana, Massachusetts school team, win 2012 math competition
An 8th grader from Sycamore School Carmel, Indiana won the 2012 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition; he competed against more than 200 other middle school students in the prestigious academic event; the best and brightest middle school mathematics students engaged in a multi-day competition which included a written exam and culminated in the lightning speed Countdown Round; in the team competition, Massachusetts captured the title of National Team Champion
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An 8th grader from Indiana, Massachusetts school team, win 2012 math competition
An 8th grader from Sycamore School Carmel, Indiana won the 2012 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition; he competed against more than 200 other middle school students in the prestigious academic event; the best and brightest middle school mathematics students engaged in a multi-day competition which included a written exam and culminated in the lightning speed Countdown Round; in the team competition, Massachusetts captured the title of National Team Champion
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New explosives detection based on micro- and nano-cantilever beam sensors
A team of engineers is investigating micro- and nano-cantilever beam sensors for explosives detection; micro- and nano-cantilever beam sensors offer a distinct advantage in that they are small, very responsive, and very sensitive; their sensitivity and selectivity can also be tuned by modifying the surface treatment
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U.K. robotics R&D receives major boost
U.K. research to develop smart machines that think for themselves received a £16 million boost yesterday thanks to a major partnership between the government and industry. This research includes safe ways of monitoring in dangerous environments such as deep sea installations and nuclear power plants, “nursebots” that assist patients in hospitals, and aerial vehicles that can monitor national borders or detect pollution
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Mass spectrometry for detection of trace quantities of explosives
The detection of trace quantities of explosives is critical to defending civilian populations from terrorist attacks; researchers have developed a method of modifying a commercial electrospray ionization source for ambient detection of explosives on surfaces
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Teaching robots to pick up oddly shaped objects
The use of robots in military and first response missions is growing; in some of these missions – for example, checking a suspicious object, lifting an oddly sahped IED off the floor — robots need more flexibility and dexterity than is currently available; researchers offer encouraging news on this front
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The American West running low on water
The American West has a drinking problem; on farms and in cities, people who live in that region are guzzling water at an alarming rate; scientists say that to live sustainably, they should use no more than 40 percent of the water from the Colorado River Basin; currently, however, they use 76 percent, nearly double the sustainable benchmark
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Little of Earth’s water is usable in everyday life
Very little of Earth’s water is usable in everyday life; about 96 percent of water on Earth is saline; of the total freshwater, over 68 percent is locked up in ice and glaciers; another 30 percent of freshwater is in the ground; rivers are the source of most of the fresh surface water people use, but they only constitute about 300 mi3 (1,250 km3), about 1/10,000th of one percent of total water
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Panetta: Environment is becoming a national security concern
Climate and environmental change are emerging as national security threats that weigh heavily in the Pentagon’s new strategy; the secretary also said he has great concern about energy-related threats to homeland security that are not driven by climate change
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Flying robots equipped with 3D gear: better surveillance on the cheap
Whether deployed to create virtual maps of difficult-to-access areas, monitor construction sites, measure contamination at nuclear power plants, assess conditions in a disaster-ravaged area, or identify rowdy soccer hooligans, mini UAVs could be used in a wide range of applications, obviating the need for expensive aerial photography or satellite imaging
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Using nanomaterials to build safer, longer-lasting roadways
Asphalt is now made from petroleum, so it is very expensive; researchers tested two types of nanoclays, adding 2-4 percent by weight to asphalt; this is a smidgeon — less than half of a percent of the total weight of the asphalt pavement itself, but it made a big difference, and could make for safer, longer-lasting roadways
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Novel radiation detection technology to thwart nuclear terrorism
Researchers at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) are developing ways to enhance the radiation-detection devices used at ports, border crossings, airports, and elsewhere; the aim is to create technologies that will increase the effectiveness and reliability of detectors in the field, while also reducing cost
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New DNA-based chemical sensor acts as an all-electronic nose
Chemical sensors are very good at detecting a single substance or a class of chemicals, even at highly rarified concentrations; biological noses, however, are vastly more versatile and capable of discriminating subtle cues that would confound their engineered counterparts; even highly trained noses, however, do leave a certain ambiguity when relaying a signal
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More headlines
The long view
Autonomous Vehicle Technology Vulnerable to Road Object Spoofing and Vanishing Attacks
Researchers have demonstrated the potentially hazardous vulnerabilities associated with the technology called LiDAR, or Light Detection and Ranging, many autonomous vehicles use to navigate streets, roads and highways. The researchers have shown how to use lasers to fool LiDAR into “seeing” objects that are not present and missing those that are – deficiencies that can cause unwarranted and unsafe braking or collisions.
Tantalizing Method to Study Cyberdeterrence
Tantalus is unlike most war games because it is experimental instead of experiential — the immersive game differs by overlapping scientific rigor and quantitative assessment methods with the experimental sciences, and experimental war gaming provides insightful data for real-world cyberattacks.
Prototype Self-Service Screening System Unveiled
TSA and DHS S&T unveiled a prototype checkpoint technology, the self-service screening system, at Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas, NV. The aim is to provide a near self-sufficient passenger screening process while enabling passengers to directly receive on-person alarm information and allow for the passenger self-resolution of those alarms.
Falling Space Debris: How High Is the Risk I'll Get Hit?
An International Space Station battery fell back to Earth and, luckily, splashed down harmlessly in the Atlantic. Should we have worried? Space debris reenters our atmosphere every week.
Testing Cutting-Edge Counter-Drone Technology
Drones have many positive applications, bad actors can use them for nefarious purposes. Two recent field demonstrations brought government, academia, and industry together to evaluate innovative counter-unmanned aircraft systems.
Strengthening the Grid’s ‘Backbone’ with Hydropower
Argonne-led studies investigate how hydropower could help add more clean energy to the grid, how it generates value as grids add more renewable energy, and how liner technology can improve hydropower efficiency.