• Android app for radioactivity detection

    Just-release Android app uses software and the smartphone’s camera to measure radioactivity levels, allowing users to find out whether their environments are safe; the software is the civilian version of technology developed under contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense and with DHS

  • Rapid test strips detect swimming water contamination

    Water-testing technology has never been fast enough to keep up with changing conditions, nor accessible enough to check all waters; researchers have developed a rapid testing method using a simple paper strip that can detect E. coli in water within minutes; the new tool can close the gap between outbreak and detection, improving public safety

  • Cost of a dirty bomb attack in L.A. would reach $16 billion

    A dirty bomb attack on downtown Los Angeles’ financial district could severely affect the region’s economy at a cost nearly $16 billion, fueled primarily by psychological effects which could persist for a decade

  • Naturally occurring enzyme to defend against chemical terrorism

    Today, protection against nerve agents relies primarily on physical barriers such as gas masks and protective suits that can easily be breached; following exposure, people are treated with drugs that help with the symptoms but do not eliminate the nerve agent; researchers hope to change this, relying on the principles of evolution to produce a more efficient version of an enzyme that occurs naturally in all of us

  • INCOM to commercialize Argonne’s detection technology

    Microchannel plate (MCP) detectors are used for detection of particles (electrons or ions) and impinging radiation (ultraviolet radiation and X-rays); this is an important technology for a variety of imaging applications ranging from medicine and physics to national security

  • More efficient bioterrorism response plan

    In the event of a bioterror attack on a building (think: the 2011 anthrax attack on the offices of two Democratic Senators, Tom Daschle of South Dakota and Patrick Leahy of Vermont), the current approach to decontamination is to clean up the building until no pathogens can be detected; researchers suggest, however, that whether or not pathogens are found depends greatly upon how extensively the buildings are tested

  • Identifying ammunition, gun used to commit a crime

    New, Raman spectroscopy-based gun-shot residue (GSR) analysis technique would make it possible for forensic investigators to match minute amounts of GSR to the exact type of ammunition, and the caliber of the gun, used to commit a crime

  • U.S. nuclear industry strong safety performance in 2011

    Studies show that the U.S. nuclear power industry achieved strong safety performance in 2011; U.S. nuclear energy facilities in 2011 recorded the lowest number of unplanned shutdowns in more than a decade

  • Miniature sensors to advance climate studies, battlefield detection

    Self-sealing valves are not only better for collecting reliable climate information – they also increase data reliability for airborne industrial and battlefield gas detection and point-of-contact medicine

  • E-beam technology to keep food supply safe

    More than two million people a year, most of them children, die from food-borne or water-borne illness; more than one-third, or 1.3 billion tons, of the food produced for human consumption every year is wasted or lost because of spoilage; the UN nuclear weapons watch dog, the IAEA, says that irradiating food is a more effective solution for preventing death, illness, and food spoilage than techniques currently in use: heating, refrigerating, freezing, or chemical treatment

  • International collaborative effort to develop better radiation detection tool

    In mid-February, the Flash Portal Project was launched with the aim of furthering the development and testing of a new technology to detect shielded nuclear materials

  • Traces of Japan’s nuclear reactor explosions found in New Hampshire

     

    Dartmouth College researchers have found evidence of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor explosions in Hanover, New Hampshire

  • Test strip detects TNT and other explosives in water

    Scientists developed a new explosives detector that can sense small amounts of TNT and other common explosives in liquids instantly with a sensitivity that rivals bomb-sniffing dogs, the current gold standard in protecting the public from terrorist bombs

  • Nuclear summit focuses on terrorist nukes

    The Seoul nuclear summit focused on the risk of nuclear terrorism; there are two risks: first, fissile materials, which terrorists may use to construct a dirty bomb, is kept at thousands of medical, research, and industrial facilities around the world – often without sufficient security; second, constructing a Hiroshima-type bomb is not as difficult as we may think

  • A nuke blast in D.C. would not destroy city: report

    A study finds that a 10-kiloton bomb detonated in Washington, D.C. would destroy many buildings and kill many people, but it would not completely destroy the city; says one expert: “If you are thinking about (a city) being wiped off the face of the earth, that’s not what happens”