• Helicopters emulate humpback whales to become more maneuverable

    Humpback whales are renowned for their great speed and acrobatic skills; they achieve both because of their unusually large pectoral fins, which have characteristic bumps along the front edge; researcher say that placing similar bumps on helicopter rotor blades (the technical term is “leading-edge vortex generators”) will increase the speed and maneuverability of helicopters

  • Invaders wreak havoc on U.S. ecosystems

    In the decade since the 9/11 attacks, DHS’ focus on combatting terrorism has left some of its core agencies ill-equipped to perform its other missions, namely the Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) ability to prevent invasive plants and insects from entering the United States and wreaking havoc on crops

  • Portable device quickly detects pathogens in developing countries

    Two Cornell University researchers will combine their inventions to develop a handheld pathogen detector that will give health care workers in the developing world speedy results to identify in the field such pathogens as tuberculosis, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and HIV

  • Day of human-elements technology nears

    Human-element research looks into biometrics, brain/computer interface and interaction, and human language technology; the U.S. military encourages government agencies, academic institutions, and commercial organizations to collaborate in this research

  • Self-guided bullet can hit target a mile away

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    Researchers have designed a self-guided bullet; the dart-like, self-guided bullet for small-caliber, smooth-bore firearms that hit laser-designated targets at distances of more than a mile

  • Pepco buys solar competition prize-winning building for display

    WaterShed, a prize-winning, energy-saving house designed by a team from the University of Maryland, has been bought by Pepco; the utility will maintain the building and open ot for public display

  • Europe crops damaged by pollution crossing oceans, continents

    Pollution originating from North America is responsible for a 1.2 million ton annual loss of wheat in Europe; this is the biggest intercontinental ozone pollution-related impact on any food crop

  • How wings really lift

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    A wing lifts when the air pressure above it is lowered. The explanation typically offered in high school and college physics courses is that this happens because the airflow moving over the top, curved surface has a longer distance to travel and needs to go faster to have the same transit time as the air travelling along the lower, flat surface. This is the wrong explanation, and a 1-minute video released by the University of Cambridge sets the record straight on this much misunderstood concept — how wings lift

  • Preparing for the end of the world as we know it

    In a growing trend, more and more Americans across the United States are preparing themselves for a catastrophic apocalypse; for reasons ranging from terrorists to natural disasters or an economic meltdown, these individuals have begun stockpiling food, taking survival courses, or constructing safe rooms

  • Wetlands capture more carbon than earlier thought

    New study shows that wetlands in temperate regions are more valuable as carbon sinks than current policies imply; the study found that the stagnant wetland had an average carbon storage rate per year that is almost twice as high as the carbon storage rate of the flow-through wetland

  • Students compete in zero-gravity robotic competition

    Two hundred high school students were on the campus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on Monday for a competition to program miniature satellites aboard the International Space Station

  • First responders could be zipping through skies within two years

    Glenn Martin, the inventor of the Martin Jetpack, the world’s first commercially available jetpack, recently spoke with Homeland Security NewsWire’s executive editor Eugene K. Chow; in their interview Martin discusses the technical challenges of developing a viable jetpack, its uses in emergency response, and when we can expect to see civilians zipping through the skies

  • World’s first magnetic soap can clean oil spills

    A University of Bristol team has dissolved iron in liquid surfactant to create a soap that can be controlled by magnets; the discovery could be used to create cleaning products that can be removed after application and used in the recovery of oil spills at sea

  • Shrew whiskers inspire robot design

    The Etruscan shrew is nocturnal, relying on its whiskers to find, track, and capture its prey; the efficiency of this tiny creature has inspired scientists to look at ways of replicating the shrew’s whiskers to enable robots to find their way around without the use of vision

  • Mysterious flotsam in Gulf came from Deepwater Horizon rig

    Scientists track debris from damaged oil rigs, helping forecast coastal impacts in the future