• Advanced IED detectors save lives

    Almost 60 percent of all coalition forces wounded or killed in Afghanistan since the start of the war in 2001 have been due to IEDs; to complicate matters, insurgents in Afghanistan have been increasingly constructing IEDs to circumvent simple metal detectors; some IEDs contain rudimentary materials such as wooden boards, foam rubber, and plastic containers; the finished product contains very little metal making it difficult for a traditional metal detector to pick up

  • USDA gives GenVec conditional approval for FMD vaccine for cattle

    The USDA has issued a conditional license for GenVec’s foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccine for use in cattle; GenVec’s cell line is capable of producing antigens without the use of the highly contagious FMD virus; because the vaccine is produced without using live or killed virus materials, it can be produced cost effectively in the United States and around the world

  • Mobile device necessitate “stateless” IT security architecture

    I n a new report, Forrester analysts say that to stay ahead of evolving mobile business requirements, security and risk (S&R) and infrastructure and operations (I&O) executives cannot rely on the old approach of end-to-end control over the data path, device, and applications; instead, they must embrace a “stateless” architecture in which IT decouples security controls from the devices and the infrastructure, derives trust dynamically, and avoids costly new investment of in-house applications and infrastructure

  • A record: half of U.S. land area is in various stages of drought

    Analysis of the latest drought monitor data revealed that 46.84 percent of the U.S. land area is in various stages of drought, up from 42.8 percent a week ago; previous records were 45.87 percent in drought on 26 August 2003, and 45.64 percent on 10 September 2002; looking only at the forty-eight contiguous states, 55.96 percent of the country’s land area is in moderate drought or worse — also the highest percentage on record

  • Students and scientists gather in Singapore to discuss water problem

    International university students and water experts have converged at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU) to foster an intellectual and research community on a scarce natural resource — water

  • Just-the-facts climate change Web site wins World Bank award

    The World Bank award a prize to a Web site built to be the antidote to the many myths circulating online about climate change, myths which cause misplaced apathy or alarm; the site also reveals how responding to climate change presents a world of opportunities for individuals and entrepreneurs

  • Fukushima disaster “a profoundly man-made disaster”: investigative commission

    The commission investigating the Fukushima disaster of March 2011 concluded that although the combination of the tsunami and earthquake was unprecedented in its ferocity, the disaster was largely man-made because it was amplified by what came before it and what followed it; the disaster itself, the commission said, was sandwiched by practices and conduct which were the result of government-industry collusion and the worst conformist conventions of Japanese culture; the government, nuclear regulators, and Tepco, the plant operator, “betrayed the nation’s right to safety from nuclear accidents”

  • A third Bell 412 helicopter delivered to NYPD for counterterrorism missions

    The NYPD dedicated many hours to designing the specifications of the department’s third Bell 412 to meet the diverse needs of the police department; one of the counterterrorism additions to the Bell 412 is a radiation detection system that can identify radiation signatures from an altitude of 200 feet in an effort to protect the city from nuclear bomb threats

  • NYPD AW119 fleet achieves 20,000 hour milestone

    The NYPD has four AW119 helicopters in service; the department’s first AW119 entered service in 2004; the NYPD has become the worldwide law enforcement fleet leader, having achieved more than 20,000 flying hours on the fleet

  • Infrastructure security market to reach $32.55 billion in 2012

    The global infrastructure security market, in terms of government spending, will reach a value of $32.55 billion in 2012; a new report says that spending on bolstering the cyber aspects of infrastructure security has little utility by itself unless the physical integrity of the infrastructure is also appropriately safeguarded

  • A third Bell 412 helicopter delivered to NYPD for counterterrorism missions

    The NYPD dedicated many hours to designing the specifications of the department’s third Bell 412 to meet the diverse needs of the police department; one of the counterterrorism additions to the Bell 412 is a radiation detection system that can identify radiation signatures from an altitude of 200 feet in an effort to protect the city from nuclear bomb threats

  • NYPD AW119 fleet achieves 20,000 hour milestone

    The NYPD has four AW119 helicopters in service; the department’s first AW119 entered service in 2004; the NYPD has become the worldwide law enforcement fleet leader, having achieved more than 20,000 flying hours on the fleet

  • DHS FY2013 $5.75 billion IT budget request focuses on mobility, data center consolidation

    DHS FY2013 IT spending requests are roughly even with FY2012 levels, with emphasis on commodity IT, mobility, and data center consolidation; the overall 2013 DHS budget request is just under $40 billion; the department’s IT budget request is just over $5.75 billion; down from $5.79 billion in FY2012

  • More effective radiation detection of cargo, baggage

    A new technique for radiation detection that could make radiation detection in cargo and baggage more effective and less costly for homeland security inspectors; the novel detection method relies on spectral shape discrimination (SSD), taking advantage of a new class of nanoporous materials known as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)

  • Tasers do not cause cardiac complications: study

    Tasers are commonly used by law enforcement personnel worldwide as an intermediate-force option to subdue and apprehend potentially dangerous or combative suspects; tasers function by delivering a series of very brief high-voltage, low-current electric pulses that result in pain, muscle contraction and inhibition of voluntary movement; taser shots to the chest are no more dangerous than those delivered to other body locations, according to a new study