-
U.K. government in £100 million scheme to promote new ideas, products
U.K. government launches a new 100 million scheme — the Small Business Research Initiative — to encourage public-sector organizations to invite British companies to submit ideas and develop technologies, which the public-sector organization could then buy to help improve public services
-
-
Travel ban will not meaningfully slow spread of epidemic
Computer modelers say that travel restrictions will do more harm (economic damage) than good (slow the spread of the flu); prevention and treatment are better measures
-
-
DARPA awards Lockheed $399.9 million for blimp
Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest defense contractor, receives nearly $400 million from the Pentagon to develop a blimp-carrying radar; the radar would be about 6,000 square meters (7,176 square yards) in size
-
-
Northrop Grumman acquires KillerBee UAV line from Swift
The KillerBees are blended wing-body UAVs offered in sizes ranging from 6.5 feet to 33.2 feet in wingspan; NG changes name from KillerBee to Bat
-
-
Dutch flying car company, well, takes off
Dutch flying car company PAL-V is gearing up for market launch of its flying car; it is Europe’s response to Massachusetts-based Terrafugia’s Transition
-
-
Current swine flu is the inevitable result of modern farming methods
The current swine flu outbreak is not yet two weeks old and conspiracy theorists already ascribe it to genetic engineering by clever bioterrorists; the truth is more prosaic: there are more than one billion pigs and more than 70 billion chickens raised every year for human consumption; modern, industrial animal farming methods make the creation of new virus types — what scientists call “reassortment” — inevitable
-
-
Virulent H5N1 mistakenly mixed with H3N2
Austrian branch of vaccine company Baxter sent a batch of ordinary human H3N2 flu to Avir lab, also in Austria; a Czech affiliate of Avir conducted tests on ferrets, which died; investigation shows that the H3N2 batch contained live virulent H5N1 virus
-
-
GE sells its Homeland Protection business to Safran for $580 million
Following 9/11, GE acquired Ion Track (2002) for an undisclosed sum and InVision Technologies for $900 million (2004); the Homeland Protection unit had revenue of $260 million last year, which GE saw as disappointing; CEO of French company Safran: We want to become “a pivotal player in the security market”
-
-
U.K. government drops central database scheme
Burden of storing communication logs will now fall to ISPs
-
-
A lost or stolen laptop costs companies nearly $50,000
A company may pay $1,000-$2,000 for a laptop computer for one of its employees; if the employee lost the laptop or it was stolen, the cost to the employer would average $49,246
-
-
Financial crisis offers opportunities for start-ups
A world of failing corporate titans and changing government policy is chaotic, but chaos creates opportunity and leaner times bring focus; savvy and nimble start-ups are in a position to exploit the situation
-
-
Growing problem: Private security companies pose risk to privacy
Government mandates in the U.K. now require more and more businesses to collect more and more information about individuals who use these businesses’ services; private contractors are hired to handled the collection and handling of the personal information collected; these contractors are not bound by the tight rules governing the government handling of such information (not that the U.K. government is doing a very good job following these rules)
-
-
New detection devices from Smiths Detection
Smiths Detection shows three new devices for quicker and more reliable detection of biological and chemical agents; soldiers and first responders will also appreciate the light weight and the ability to operate the gear with only one hand
-
-
Unstructured data search: Attensity Corp. forms Attensity Group
What with the mountains of information the Internet age allows, there is a need to search these vast haystacks for the few important needles; this is what unstructured data searches do; a leading player, Attensity Corporation, joins with Empolis GmbH and Living-e AG to form Attensity Group
-
-
Self-healing concrete for safer, durable, and cheaper-to-maintain infrastructure
Wolverines researchers develop self-healing concrete; the concrete self-heals itself when it develops cracks; no human intervention required — only water and carbon dioxide
-
The long view
Factories First: Winning the Drone War Before It Starts
Wars are won by factories before they are won on the battlefield,Martin C. Feldmann writes, noting that the United States lacks the manufacturing depth for the coming drone age. Rectifying this situation “will take far more than procurement tweaks,” Feldmann writes. “It demands a national-level, wartime-scale industrial mobilization.”
Trump Is Fast-Tracking New Coal Mines — Even When They Don’t Make Economic Sense
In Appalachian Tennessee, mines shut down and couldn’t pay their debts. Now a new one is opening under the guise of an “energy emergency.”
Smaller Nuclear Reactors Spark Renewed Interest in a Once-Shunned Energy Source
In the past two years, half the states have taken action to promote nuclear power, from creating nuclear task forces to integrating nuclear into long-term energy plans.