-
Stanford researchers offer revolutionary design for computer chips
Moore’s law stipulates that the number of transistors squeezed onto a computer chip can be doubled about every two years; the law was threteaned by the damaging heat generated by the chips as their transistors become more densely packed; new design solves problem; “What we managed to do is basically get rid of the magnetic field,” says lead researcher
-
-
NASA engineers develop FISMA compliance tool
NASA engineers are good at developing complex space exploration systems, but they were frustrated by the demanding FISMA compliance and reporting requirements; so they developed an automated tool to take care of it
-
-
Argneitna warms up to UAVs
Argentina plans to increase use of UAVs for various homeland security and law enforcement missions
-
-
DuPont to invest $500 million to expand Kevlar production
Growing demand for personal and vehicle protection conveniences company to increase Kevlar production capacity by 25 perent
-
-
Mechanical mole seeks out disaster survivors under collapsed buildings
Robots already roll, walk, slither, and even “swarm” to locate or help survivors, so why not dig and burrow? University of Manchester rsearchers build a digging robot which imitates the common European mole
-
-
InRob Tech leverages military technology in civilian markets
A remote-control and robotics specialist uses technologies developed for defense and homeland security for civilian market applications
-
-
Elephant trap for truck-bombs
A truck bomb killed 241 soliders in Beirut in 1983, and they continue to reap their grim harvest in Iraq and Afghanistan; a designer suggests an elephant-trap design as proetction
-
-
Herding swarming robots
Individual autonomous machines are now in wide use on land, in the air, and at sea for defense and homeland security missions; using several of these robots together, in a coordinated fashion, is difficult; an MIT researcher offers a way to use “swarming” robots which talk to each other
-
-
Bottle makes dirty water drinkable; ideal for post diaster relief
A bottle which purifies even the dirtiest water — it uses filter which cuts out anything longer than 15 nanometres, which means that viruses are filtered out — is ideal for post-disaster relief, soldiers in the field
-
-
Military GPS technology to be marketed domestically
Rockwell Collins will market its Polaris-branded devices, popular in the military, to homeland security and search and rescue agencies
-
-
Body sensor network to improve individual's performance, safety
Imperial College London’s researcher develops sensor which monitors athletes’ performance; it may be used to monitor soldiers, first responders — and the sick and the eledrly
-
-
Flying saucer technology to aid military, law enforcement
Small British company makes a UAV flying saucer; applications include close quarter surveillance and intelligence gathering for military and law enforcement, mountain rescue, and farming
-
-
U.K. researchers to develop new communication signals analysis
The extreme risks and rapid time frames associated with terrorist activities make it difficult to gather evidence that might prevent an attack or lead to successful prosecution; analyzing communication signals with with forensic psychology techniques should help
-
-
DirecTV thwarted in effort to limit signal interception
Court protects security and computer science research into satellite and smart-card technology by denying DirecTV’s broad — too broad — interpretation of federal law prohibiting “assembly” or “modification” of equipment designed to intercept satellite signals
-
-
UAV sets duration world record
QinetiQ’s Zephyr uses solar power to fly for 54 hours while carrying a surveillance payload
-
The long view
Russia’s AI Quest is State-Driven — Even More than China’s. Can It Work?
The Russian government, more than Western governments and more than China’s, is working hard to position itself as a facilitator and promoter of innovation in artificial intelligence. Vladimir Putin said that the technology will lead whoever masters it to global advantage. Samuel Bendett writes that “Those who doubt that this uniquely state-heavy approach can succeed would do well to remember that today’s internet and mobile telecommunications grew out of Pentagon-funded research, that the Soviet Union led the Space Race for a decade, and that U.S. astronauts currently ascend to orbit atop Russian rockets.”
Technologies to Manage Climate Change Already Exist – but U.K. Needs to Scale Up Efforts Urgently
In the U.K., climate change is being tackled by taking baby steps. Andreas Busch writes that this is unfortunate, because “The world already has effective engineering solutions to manage climate change and to limit global temperatures from rising above 1.5°C – a target set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). But there is a desperate lack of conviction from politicians and society to address the climate emergency.”
The Sea Wanted to Take This California Lighthouse. Now, It’s Part of a Conflict Between a Town and Two Tribes
For decades, the Trinidad Memorial Lighthouse stood like atop the coastal bluff overlooking the rocky outcrops of Trinidad Bay in northern California. But then, climate change began to take its toll: “the ground began to crumble. Rain moved the earth. The bluff cracked, a sidewalk warped, and thus ended the charmed life of the Trinidad Memorial Lighthouse, which suddenly threatened to slide into the Pacific,” Hailey Branson-Potts writes.
Weather Is Turning into Big Business. And That Could Be Trouble for the Public.
This may well be the future of weather forecasting: “Now for your local weather forecast: That’ll be $10, please.” Climate change is inflicting an increasingly heavier costs on the U.S. economy, and those rising costs — along with advances in data-gathering and processing, and cheaper access to low Earth orbit — have spurred start-ups and established companies to get into the business of weather forecasting.
Scientists Warn of Weather Extremes as “New Normal”
Scientists warned that faster and stronger climate change is threatening the Earth and humankind as extreme weather has become the “new normal,” according to a report presented to UN climate chief. The report found that climate change is forcing people to reconsider the notion of an extreme event. What was once considered unlikely or rare – is becoming part of the “new normal.”
A Quantum Computing Future Is Unlikely, Due to Random Hardware Errors
Earlier this fall Google announced that it had demonstrated “quantum supremacy” – that is, that it performed a specific quantum computation far faster than the best classical computers could achieve. IBM promptly criticized the claim, saying that its own classical supercomputer could perform the computation at nearly the same speed with far greater fidelity. “So how can you make sense of what is going on?” Subhash Kak, a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, asks. “As someone who has worked on quantum computing for many years, I believe that due to the inevitability of random errors in the hardware, useful quantum computers are unlikely to ever be built.”