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Rhinoceros beetles foretell future of flapping-wing design
Researchers launch a quantitative investigation of aerodynamics and wing kinematics in rhinoceros beetle flight in order to shed new light on the evolution of flapping flight in nature; experimental study of the aerodynamic performance of beetles in forward/hovering flight will provide insight into designs for efficient and stable flapping-wing micro aerial vehicles
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In environmental disasters, families experience conflict, denial, silence
Environmental disasters affect individuals and communities; they also affect how family members communicate with each other, sometimes in surprising ways; the researchers say that the findings were, in some ways, counterintuitive
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£5 million investment in U.K. rail technology, business innovation
The U.K. government is leading on an investment of £5 million to accelerate business innovation and growth in the U.K. rail industry, using the funds to support the development of technologies to address technological and business challenges
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Simulations helps overcome design challenges
Simulation software can pull volumes of complex data beyond simple measurements (think comparative load or stress tolerances) and layer that information into images; simulation can show how a bridge will perform based on how it is used, the conditions around it, its design, materials, and even variables such as the position of a joint — before a single component is manufactured or ground is broken
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Southern sea levels rise dramatically
Sea levels have risen about twenty centimeters in the South West Pacific since the late nineteenth century, a new scientific study shows
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Most states in U.S. unprepared for growing water threats to economy, health
Only nine states in the United States have taken comprehensive steps to address their vulnerabilities to the water-related consequences of changes in climate — rainfall events which increase flooding risks to property and health change, and drought conditions which threaten supply for municipalities, agriculture, and industries — while twenty-nine states are unprepared for growing water threats to their economies and public health
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Formation of hate groups associated with presence of big-box stores
In a new research, economists say that the presence of big-box retailers, such as Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and Target, may alter a community’s social and economic fabric enough to promote the creation of hate groups; the researchers say that the number of Wal-Mart stores in a county is more significant statistically than factors commonly regarded as important to hate group participation, such as the unemployment rate, high crime rates, and low education
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DARPA offers $2 million in prizes for Robotic Challenge winners
DARPA is seeking hardware, software, modeling, and gaming developers to link with emergency response and science communities to design robots capable of supervised autonomous response to simulated disaster
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Miniature sensors to advance climate studies, battlefield detection
Self-sealing valves are not only better for collecting reliable climate information – they also increase data reliability for airborne industrial and battlefield gas detection and point-of-contact medicine
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Growing Asia Pacific research strengths leaving U.S.-based research behind
The publications output of Chinese scientists is set to surpass that of U.S.-based scientists by 2013; in the meantime, major investments in discovery and innovation are building capacity in Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan
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Raytheon highlights Mathematics Awareness Month activities
The importance of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education to U.S. economic well-being and national security cannot be overemphasized; Raytheon is famous for its commitment to STEM education, and this month — Mathematics Awareness Month — the company highlights the many STEM-related activities it sponsors
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E-beam technology to keep food supply safe
More than two million people a year, most of them children, die from food-borne or water-borne illness; more than one-third, or 1.3 billion tons, of the food produced for human consumption every year is wasted or lost because of spoilage; the UN nuclear weapons watch dog, the IAEA, says that irradiating food is a more effective solution for preventing death, illness, and food spoilage than techniques currently in use: heating, refrigerating, freezing, or chemical treatment
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New technology sheds light on viruses
Scientists develop diagnostic tests that rapidly detect disease-causing viruses in animals and humans; the scientists using a new technology called surface-enhanced Raman scattering, or SERS
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Stormy weather in Europe's future
Europeis likely to be hit by more violent winter storms in the future; a new study into the effects of climate change has found out why
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HPDC to publish best grid computing cybersecurity papers
In the late 1990s, as science was pushing new limits in terms of levels of computation and data and in the collaboration between scientists across universities, countries, and the globe, grid computing emerged as the model to support such large scientific collaborations by providing their computational resources and the structure behind them
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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.