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Nigerian group threatens attacks
Today is the one-year anniversary since Umaru Yar’Adua was inaugurated as president of Nigeria; MEND, the leading rebel group in the Niger Delta, said yesterday that it would launch a series of bombings against oil installations to mark the day
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Torrefaction treatment for biomass
Torrefaction is increasingly seen as a desirable treatment for biomass because it creates a solid product which is easier to store, transport, and mill than raw biomass
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Megawatt tidal turbine completed
U.K. maritime energy specialist completes installation of 1.2 MW tidal energy system off the shore of Northern Ireland; system to provide clean electricity equivalent to that used by 1,000 homes
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Nanotechnology-based biosensor
NASA develops nanotechnology-based biosensor that can detect trace amounts of specific bacteria, viruses, and parasites; New York-based Early Warning, Inc. will initially market the sensor to water treatment facilities, food and beverage companies, industrial plants, hospitals, and airlines
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"Fibrous" steel withstands extremely cold temperatures
Steel is very strong, except that in cold temperatures it becomes brittle; new method of making steel withstand cold temperatures could make steel structures in Arctic areas, like ships or oil rigs, cheaper to construct
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Grasshopper robot breaks high-jump record
Researchers develop small - very small: it is 5 centimeters tall and weighs just 7 grams — hopping robot; swarms of such hopping robots could spread out to explore disaster areas, or even the surfaces of other planets
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New London mayor approves desalination plant
Boris Johnson has just been elected mayor of London, and one of his first acts in office was to withdraw of the legal challenge launched by his predecessor, Ken Livingstone, against a desalination plant to be built on the banks of the Thames; the plant will be the first in London to take water from the tidal stretch of the Thames, removing salt from the water
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DHS to keep an eye on access to IT systems
DHS to create a database of employees, contractors, and consultants with access to DHS computer systems; database will contain names, business affiliations, positions, phone numbers, citizenship, home addresses, e-mail addresses, access records, date and time of access, logs of Internet activity, and Internet protocol address of access
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UAE upgrades security of energy infrastructure
UAE is the third-largest oil exporter in OPEC; emirate wants to protect its oil and gas infrastructure
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IT chiefs warn of cyber-terrorism threat to critical infrastructure
UN expert dismissed as a dangerous myth the idea that events in the virtual world have only a limited impact on the physical world, saying that technology has “changed the dynamics of terrorism”
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Hackers to concentrate on moving targets
Security maven Howard Schmidt says more must be done to bolster mobile defenses
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Power plants open to hacker attack
Power plants, dams, and many other critical infrastructure assets are controlled by a system called supervisory control and data acquisition, or SCADA; a Boston technology specialist finds serious vulnerability in the system
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Civilian nuclear facilities in Sichuan confirmed safe
The Chinese government has identified 32 radioactive sources in the earthquake-devastated Sichuan area - hospitals, research centers, factories, but no power plants; 30 sources have already been located and removed; the two remaining sources have been cordoned off and are being excavated
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Alarming open-source security holes found
A programming error introduced serious security vulnerabilities in millions of computer systems; many systems affected
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Permanent denial-of-service attack sabotages hardware
HP’s Rich Smith to demonstrate a permanent denial-of-service (PDOS) attack that remotely wipes out hardware via flash firmware updates
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More headlines
The long view
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.
Using Drone Swarms to Fight Forest Fires
Forest fires are becoming increasingly catastrophic across the world, accelerated by climate change. Researchers are using multiple swarms of drones to tackle natural disasters like forest fires.
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.
LNG Exports Have Had No Impact on Domestic Energy Costs: Analysis
U.S. liquified natural gas (LNG) exports have not had any sustained and significant direct impact on U.S. natural gas prices and have, in fact, spurred production and productivity gains, which contribute to downward pressure on domestic prices.