• Dallas area earthquakes were caused by fracking: geophysicists

    Three earthquakes that hit a Dallas suburb last week could be connected to fracking operations, according to a local geophysicist who studies earthquakes in the region; the earthquakes were considered minor, with the biggest one registered at a 3.4 on the Richter scale; no injuries were reported despite many emergency calls

  • Infrastructure security market to reach a value of $32.55 billion in 2012

    The infrastructure security market has rapidly developed over the past decade, with the formation of a host of governmental and international organizations dedicated to homeland security and critical infrastructure protection; a new report says growth trends in the infrastructure protection market will continue

  • Camera for long-range gas leak detection

    New infrared gas imaging camera equipped with a 75 mm lens; it iscertified for use in Class I Div 2 hazardous locations, enabling remote detection and visualization of gas leaks from a great distance

  • Oshkosh Defense unveils new light vehicle for unconventional missions

    Using the occasion of the Modern Day Marine 2012 exposition, held 25-27 September in Quantico, Virginia, Oshkosh Defense unveiled its new Special Purpose All-Terrain Vehicle (S-ATV) designed for unconventional and reconnaissance missions, and also showed its Light Combat Tactical All-Terrain Vehicle (L-ATV), which was selected for the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) Engineering, Manufacturing and Development (EMD) phase; the joint services are expected to replace tens of thousands of HMMWVs with the JLTV

  • U.K. military’s drone spending keep rising

    In an effort to boost its military, the United Kingdom, over the past five years, has spent more than two billion euros buying and developing unmanned drones; the U.K. has no intention of slowing down, as it is committed to spending another two billion euros on new unmanned aircraft

  • U.S. nuclear industry believes its on the threshold of a renaissance

    Following the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, doubts were raised about  the future of the U.S. nuclear power industry; now, eighteen months later, a new poll, and changes in NRC’s reactor design approval procedure, have convinced industry leaders that nuclear power could become a significant source of power in the United States

  • EU considers far-reaching Internet security initiative

    Cybersecurity is becoming an increasingly more daunting challenge as governments try to prevent attacks against critical infrastructure on which the well-being of countries depends, now, several European countries are trying to come together in an effort to defend themselves against a cyber attack, but critics say the project, called CleanIT, goes too far

  • The administration set to issue a cybersecurity executive order

    President Obama issued a proclamation the other day making October National Cyber Security Awareness month. The administration’s efforts to push a cybersecurity bill through Congress, however, have so far failed, so the administration is opting for a solution other administrations have adopted in the face of a recalcitrant Congress: executive order

  • Employers in a bind over the administration’s deferred deportation executive order

    The administration’s 15 June executive order defers deportation action against 1.2 million illegal immigrants who meet certain criteria; those who apply for the 2-year deferment should prove, for example, that they have lived in the United States for at least five years, and one way to do so would be a job verification from their employers; employers, however, are concerned that those employers who agree to these requests may be acknowledging that they knowingly hired an illegal immigrant, a violation of federal law

  • Assessment reports mineralization of 2.173 million tons rare Earths elements in Idaho, Montana

    U.S. Rare Earths, Inc. announced the other day the final results of an independent analysis of historic exploration work done on its Idaho and Montana properties

  • Innovative, “complete” solution for oil-spill cleanup

    Corncobs, straw, and other absorbents used to clean up oil spills can hold only about five times their own weight and pick up water, as well as oil; scientists describe what may be a “complete solution” to cleaning up oil spills — a superabsorbent material that sops up forty times its own weight in oil and then can be shipped to an oil refinery and processed to recover the oil

  • Immigrant entrepreneurship in U.S. has stalled for the first time in decades

    New study finds that high-tech, immigrant-founded startups – a critical source of fuel for the U.S. economy — has stagnated and is on the verge of decline; the proportion of immigrant-founded companies nationwide has slipped from 25.3 percent to 24.3 percent since 2005; the drop is even more pronounced in Silicon Valley, where the percentage of immigrant-founded startups declined from 52.4 percent to 43.9 percent

  • Obama blocks purchase of U.S. wind farms by Chinese company

    Last Friday President Barack Obama blocked a Chinese company from owning four wind farm projects in northern Oregon; Obama cited security risks for the action, making it the first time in twenty-two years that a U.S. president has blocked a foreign business deal

  • Herbicide-resistant crops require more herbicides

    Researchers find that the use of herbicides in the production of three genetically modified herbicide-tolerant crops — cotton, soybeans, and corn — has actually increased; this counterintuitive finding is based on an exhaustive analysis of publicly available data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agriculture Statistics Service

  • U.S. manufacturers moving their manufacturing operations back to U.S.

    Increasingly, U.S. firms are moving or considering moving their manufacturing operations back to domestic soil from overseas; fueling the trend are rising labor costs in emerging countries, high oil prices, and increasing transportation costs, global risks such as political instability, and other factors