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Aussie students develop new way to visualize fingerprints left on paper
Two University of Technology, Sydney students develop a method which relies on the application of heat to the sample, with the fingerprint development accomplished in a matter of seconds
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Large defense contractors look for cyber-security business
Cyber attacks on U.S. government networks and private companies have grown exponentially; the result is a vast increase in the attention paid to, and money spent on, cyber security; the biggest U.S. military contractors are counting on winning billions of dollars in work to protect the U.S. federal government against cyber attacks
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Air France begins trial of biometric boarding cards
Air France begins trials with biometric cards as a replacement for boarding passes; the RFID-equipped cards store the passenger’s fingerprints and may be re-used up to 500 times
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Critic: U.K. fraud strategy "more worthy of Uzbekistan"
Business fraud costs Britain £14 billion a year; the U.K. government today launched its National Fraud Strategy, but a Cambridge professor harshly criticizes the initiative
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Leading browsers easily felled at hacker contest
Students at a hacker convention easily breach the protections built into Safari, IE 8, and Firefox; contestants do so in front of appreciative spectators and in a matter of hours
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CSC to help combat cyber warfare
Cyberattacks pose a major threat to the welfare and security of developing countries; developing protection against that threat offers business opportunities
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IDO Security shoes-on inspection device adopted by several airports
Taking your shoes off for airport security checks is a hassle; a shoes-on inspection devise is gaining popularity
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U.K. government flags ID cost increase
The U.K. government says that passports will account for a smaller proportion of the cost of the national identity scheme’s overall cost than previously stated; introducing and producing passports containing fingerprints will cost about 70 percent of the £4.785 million budget for the National Identity Scheme for U.K. nationals
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European Commission calls for single EU patent
EC says that the absence of a single Europe-wide patent law is hindering the growth of technology companies in the European Union
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Yoran: Better metrics needed for security
Amit Yoran says that the security industry is awash in bad data, and that companies that attempt to use the metrics could take the wrong actions
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Iris recognition on-the-move tested at Schiphol Airport
Sarnoff Corporation promises to make it faster and easier to verify users through iris scanning technology; Schiphol Airport want to know more about it
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Handling nuclear materials for less
During this century, nuclear plant decommissioning in the United Kingdom will likely produce thousands of waste packages that will be retrieved, conditioned, and stored for no less than £40 billion; BNS develops new way to reduce storage and handling costs of radioactive material
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U.S. searching for a nuclear waste graveyard
Congress has killed the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository project, so the United States has no central location for storing nuclear waste; 50,000 metric tons of toxic nuclear waste that has already been produced by the U.S. nuclear plants; 30,000 metric tons more of nuclear waste is expected to be generated in the coming decades
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Questions raised about private inspections of food companies
What the mortgage meltdown did to the financial services sector, the recent salmonella outbreak has done to to food industry: critics charge that both cases exposed the inherent weaknesses of industries regulating and inspecting themselves
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Project allowing Mexican long-haul trucks into U.S. ends
Two years ago the Department of Transportation launched a pilot project allowing Mexican long-haul trucks to carry their cargo from the Mexican origin all the way to the U.S. destination, without transferring the cargo to an American carrier; Congress removed funding for the project from the omnibus spending bill
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The long view
The Scourge of Commercial Spyware—and How to Stop It
Years of public revelations have spotlighted a shadowy set of spyware companies selling and servicing deeply intrusive surveillance technologies that are used against journalists, activists, lawyers, politicians, diplomats, and others. Democratic nations (thus far) lag behind the United States in executing spyware-related policy commitments.
Training Students to Succeed in the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”
Transformational changes are already underway in the manufacturing industry as technological advancements, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and smart devices from the “fourth industrial revolution” or Industry 4.0., inspire a digital-first approach to engineering. University of Missouri researchers are using a $1 million grant to support the development of an Industry 4.0 lab, training engineering students for the future of digitization in manufacturing.
Multi-Billion-Dollar Risk to Economic Activity from Climate Extremes Affecting Ports
More than $122 billion of economic activity - $81 billion in international trade - is at risk from the impact of extreme climate events, according to new research. Systemic impacts – those risks faced due to knock-on effects within global shipping, trade and supply chains network - will hit ports and economies around the world, even if the local ports are not directly affected by extreme events.
Tech Breakthrough Could Increase States’ Use of Geothermal Power
Lawmakers in some states have been laying the groundwork to add geothermal power to the electrical grid and pump underground heat into buildings. Now, a technological breakthrough could dramatically expand those ambitions — and perhaps unleash a new wave of policies to tap into geothermal sources. If the technology’s promise is fulfilled, geothermal could power as much as 20% of the U.S. grid.
More U.S. Crops to Require Irrigation
With climate change, irrigating more crops in the United States will be critical to sustaining future yields, as drought conditions are likely to increase due to warmer temperatures and shifting precipitation patterns. Yet less than 20% of the nation’s croplands are equipped for irrigation.
State Pension Fund is Helping a Middle Eastern Firm Export Arizona’s Precious Groundwater
As rural Arizonans face the prospect of wells running dry, foreign firms are sucking up vast amounts of the state’s groundwater to grow hay for Saudi Arabia and other wealthy nations. The state’s retirement system invested heavily in a private land deal that allowed a foreign company to effectively ship Arizona’s scarce water supply overseas.