• Fabric for military uniforms to repel chemical and biological agents

    Military uniforms of the future may offer a new layer of critical protection to wearers; the fabric will be able to switch reversibly from a highly breathable state to a protective one in response to the presence of the environmental threat without the need for an external control system; in the protective state, the uniform material will block the chemical threat while maintaining a good breathability level

  • DARPA’s program to reveal backdoors, hidden malicious functionality in commercial IT devices

    The scenario is one that information security experts dread: widespread dissemination of commercial technology which is secretly wired to function in unintended ways or even spy on its users; from this vantage point, mobile phones, network routers, computer work stations, and any other device hooked up to a network can provide a point of entry for an adversary; for the Department of Defense this issue is of great concern, and DARPA pland to do something about it

  • Lockheed Martin demonstrates ground-based laser system against short-range threats

    See video

    Lockheed Martin has successfully demonstrated a portable, ground-based military laser system in a series of tests against representative airborne targets; the Area Defense Anti-Munitions (ADAM) system aims to provide a defense against short-range threats, such as rockets and unmanned aerial systems

  • Tents provide disaster victims with shelter – and a measure of privacy

    A charity called ShelterBox gives out tents and other essential equipment to victims of war and natural disasters around the world; the lightweight tents the charity provides can withstand winds of up to sixty-two miles per hour; the charity also provides thermal blankets, stoves, pans, utensils, tool-kits, and even crayons for children

  • More police departments make officers wear headcams

    The Salt Lake Police Department is following other law enforcement agencies by having officers wear headgear with cameras attached; a police chief in Salt Lake is taking it one step further by announcing his intention to make the cameras mandatory at his department; this would allow police officers in Salt Lake to record any crime or interaction with the public

  • Soon ballistic armor may be made of wood

    By processing cellulose further than has been the case to date, it is possible to extract cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) fibrils with tremendous tensile strength; since soft body armor has been available for police for about forty years, few pay attention to developments in this industry, but it was not too long ago that a plain vanilla Level II vest without a trauma plate was almost as bulky as the external body armor the military presently uses.

  • New smartphone app for crime tips

    Howard County, Maryland police announced Monday that the department has launched a new smartphone app allowing residents anonymously to send crime tips by text, e-mail, photo, or video, according to a police news release. Howard County police are the first jurisdiction in Maryland to install the technology, which is called iWatch.

  • Private drone taking off in U.S.

    When HobbyTown USA first began selling drones a couple years ago, they only had one or two customers inquiring about them. Now, however, with people finding real-world applications for the small pilotless aircrafts, people are coming in and asking about them much more regularly, according to Elliot.Real estate agents in the area are using drones to photograph their vineyard properties, police and fire departments are experimenting with drones for patrolling and, of course, the hobbyist is fueling the commercial push said Elliot, who added that the market is growing rapidly. He pointed out that his drone customer list has grown from one to 12 in the last two years.

  • Hiding communication from government, law-enforcement snooping

    In response to increasing government and law-enforcement snooping, companies such as San Francisco’s Wickr are attempting to build traceless communications systems. The idea is to build the encryption into the actual message — rather than on the servers of the messaging provider — so no one other than the recipients can see what is being communicated. Right now Wickr works only on text messaging, but the company plans to extend its encryption services to e-mail and even social networks.

  • Police uses specially equipped tablets to nab thieves

    Dayton, Ohio Police officers are using a local software company’s technology to catch thieves and are reporting some success after several years of development. Detectives launched an ongoing operation in the Oregon District this weekend that utilizes specially equipped tablets to lure and then track thieves. They made two arrests in the first twenty-four hours of the operation.

  • U.S. skies may soon be open to drones

    Unmanned drones are cheaper than manned aircraft and can be used in a variety of ways, such as assessing environmental threats and damage from natural disaster, tracking criminals trying to escape on a highway, and assessing wildfires; according to an FAA prediction, 30,000 drones could be flying in the United States in less than twenty years; lawmakers and privacy advocates want the use of these drones more tightly regulated

  • Technology to help weather bushfires, floods and more

    Natural disasters have increased in severity and frequency in recent years; in 2010, 385 natural disasters affected 217 million people worldwide at a cost to the global economy of $123.9 billion; there is an on-going research into digital technologies and services for disaster planning, preparation, rescue, and recovery; these technologies can help emergency services better manage natural disasters and minimize their effects on people, infrastructure, and the environment

  • Israel successfully tests David’s Sling mid-range missile defense system

    During the just-ended Operation Pillar of Defense, Israel made military history by successfully employing a missile defense system to protect the country’s population: during the 8-day war, Hamas and Islamic Jihad launched 1,506 rockets and missiles at Israeli towns and cities; of those, 1,057 fell harmlessly in empty fields, but 449 were headed toward populated centers; of the 449, Israel’s Iron Dome system intercepted 421, and 28 hit buildings, killing five; yesterday Israel announced the successful test of David’s Sling, a mid-range missile defensive system; the system is designed to protect against missile with a range of up to 180 miles, like the missiles in the hands of Syria and Hezbollah

  • Improved technology to detect hazardous chemicals

    Scientists have developed a system quickly to detect trace amounts of illegal drugs, explosives, pollutants in rivers, or nerve gases released into the air; the new system can pick out a single target molecule from 10,000 trillion water molecules within milliseconds, by trapping it on a self-assembling single layer of gold nanoparticles

  • Arizona police departments test shirt-worn, high-tech cameras

    Two police departments in Arizona – Surprise and Peoria — are testing several brands of high-tech cameras that attach to an officer’s shirt; police in Mesa, Arizona used about fifty cameras for a 1-year study; the Phoenix Police Department plans on using the cameras full-time starting early next year; privacy and civil-liberties experts say the cameras can be used in a positive way, but that there needs to be a clear baseline of rules when it comes to how and when the cameras are used