• Detroit woman saved from robber's bullet by her bra

    Some manufacturers of bras for full-figured women use wiring in their lingerie to offer women more support and prevent what is called “breast spillage”; such wiring offers more than support — it offers protection

  • Soldiers' helmets serve as sniper location system

    Commodore researchers develop a networked helmet that help soldiers and first responders fighting in a hazardous urban environment pin-point and display the location of enemy shooters in three dimensions and accurately identify the caliber and type of weapons they are firing

  • Better bullet-proof vests with advanced fiber weaves

    Manchester University researchers say that bullet-proof vests used to protect the lives of police officers could be further improved with advanced fiber weaves

  • Super-strength gear competition heats up

    Berkeley Bionics-Lockheed Martin team challenges the Sarco-Raytheon team for the super solider suit of the future; suit will allow soldiers the wearer to carry up to 200 pounds without much effort — and sprint up to 10 miles per hour in short bursts

  • Growing crime in Central America boon to private security companies

    A combination of a dramatic increase in crime — from drug-related murders to kidnapping for ransom — and a growing perception that government agencies cannot or would not do much about it, have led to a boom for private security companies in Central and Latin America

  • Blood-detecting clothing to help first responders, soldiers

    Wolverines researchers developed a yarn that can detect blood; clothing made from the yarn would be useful in high-risk professions, as unconscious firefighters, ambushed soldiers, or police officers in an accident may not be able to send a distress signal to a central command post

  • Day of smart fabrics nears

    Researchers report progress toward a simple, low-cost method to make smart fabrics — electronic textiles capable of detecting diseases, monitoring heart rates, and other vital signs

  • Debate over safety of taser-proof vests

    A U.S. body-armor company is selling taser-proof vests to police units; some argue that the vests make officers less safe because taser-toting bad guys would now aim for the officer’s head; the response: this is like arguing that bullet-proof vests make officer less safe because the bad guy would aim for the head

  • Debate over safety of taser-proof vests

    A U.S. body-armor company is selling taser-proof vests to police units; some argue that the vests make officers less safe because taser-toting bad guys would now aim for the officer’s head; the response: this is like arguing that bullet-proof vests make officer less safe because the bad guy would aim for the head

  • Body-armor manufacturer settles with U.S. Justice Department

    The U.S. Justice Department charged that a body armor manufacturer knowingly used Zylon fiber in body army it sold to the federal government and local law enforcement; Zylon fiber degrades quickly and is not suitable for ballistic use

  • Anti-invisibility cloak would render invisible objects visible again

    A perfect invisibility cloak guides rays so effectively that none reaches the cloaked object within, keeping it in total darkness — a disadvantage if invisibility cloaks are ever to be used to shield tanks, steer microwaves in space, or hide humans; scientists find a solution

  • Scientists to study synthetic telepathy

    Researchers are lookig into synthetic telepathy — for example, a soldier would “think” a message to be transmitted and a computer-based speech recognition system would decode the EEG signals and transmit the thought to its intended target

  • U.K. critical infrastructure vulnerable

    New report says last summer’s flood showed infrastructure’s vulnerability; funding for flood defenses was not sufficient or secure, undermining industry confidence, and there were not enough skilled engineers to deliver the protection from flooding needed

  • Stretchy spider silks can be springs or rubber

    Spider silk is stronger than steel and nylon, and more extensible than Kevlar; it would be ideal for personal protective gear for soldiers and law enforcement, and medical applications; “would be ideal” — because we do not yet know how to spin artificial silk; Canadian scientists have interesting ideas

  • New grants to create fabrics which render toxic chemicals harmless

    New fabrics made of functional nanofibers would decompose toxic industrial chemicals into harmless byproducts; potential applications include safety gear for soldiers and first responders —and filtration systems for buildings and vehicles