• Students create low-cost biosensor to detect contaminated water

    Diarrheal disease is the second-leading cause of death in children under five years old — killing as many as 1.5 million children worldwide every year; these startling statistics from the World Health Organization (2009) point to the reason why a group of undergraduate students from Arizona State University is working to develop a low-cost biosensor — a simple device that would detect contaminated drinking water

  • DHS funds more tests of autonomous power buoy for ocean surveillance

    Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) has entered into an agreement with DHS Science & Technology Directorate to perform a new round of in-ocean tests on the company’s Autonomous PowerBuoy to demonstrate its use for ocean surveillance

  • Powerful new explosive could replace today's state-of-the-art military explosive

    Borrowing a technology used to improve the effectiveness of drugs, scientists are reporting discovery of a new explosive more powerful than the current state-of-the-art explosive used by the military

  • Innovative hydroelectric solution harvests power from water flowing through municipal pipes

    An innovative solution has made it so dams do not have to be built in order to get hydroelectricity; hydroelectric power can now be harvested from water flowing through municipal pipes; the innovation is creating energy by using existing infrastructure, as well as solving a problem in that infrastructure

  • Law-enforcement agencies eager for Web-surveillance tools

    Private technology firms are pitching software capable of analyzing large swaths of the Internet to local law enforcement looking for ways to stop the next mass shooting or domestic terrorist event before it happens; police departments hope the software will help them detect online information from terrorists, traffickers, pedophiles, and rioters

  • Coastline erosion due to rise in sea level greater than previously thought

    The effects of coastline erosion as a result of rising sea-level rise can be measured by acceptable engineering tools, but such an erosion in the vicinity of inlets, such as river estuaries, has until now been underestimated – and more difficult to calculate; scientists have develop a new model to calculate this more complex erosion, making a valuable contribution to coastal management, planning, and infrastructure protection

  • Many of the U.S. 20 million manholes are in need of immediate rehabilitation or replacement

    The EPA estimates that there are about twenty million manholes in the United States – or one manhole for every 400 feet of pavement on average; many of those manholes are in serious decay or in need of immediate rehabilitation or replacement

  • Testing new pavement materials

    Scientists are trying to determine the durability of recycled materials for use in road construction; a Texas university is building a new accelerated pavement testing center, with the overall road pad at the accelerated pavement testing center could be a little bigger than a half-acre in size

  • MIT expert: “toxic” political discussions limit climate response

    In a talk at the Sandia National Lab, an MIT expert says the inability of natural and social scientists to convince political leaders that “we’re spinning a roulette wheel over climate change” puts humanity at “extreme risk,” and that the difficulties in using science to push for mitigation strategies are more political than scientific

  • As shoe-scanning devices fail, passengers continue to remove their shoes

    In the last five years the U.S. government has tested several scanning devices for detecting explosives and other weapons concealed in the shoes of airline passengers; after spending millions of dollars on these devices, TSA has concluded that the detection systems are ineffective; the result: removing shoes at security check points is going to be a part of air travel for the foreseeable future

  • Engineers develop electricity-free home cooling system

    Researchers are developing a solar cooling and heating system for the home which will run independently of the electricity grid and generate domestic hot water as a by-product

  • Trade-offs between water for food and for curbing climate change

    Earth’s growing human population needs fresh water for drinking and food production. Fresh water, however, is also needed for the growth of biomass, which acts as a sink of carbon dioxide and thus could help mitigate climate change. Does the Earth have enough freshwater resources to meet these competing demands?

  • As Hurricane Isaac beats on New Orleans, new infrastructure is holding up

    This week, as Hurricane Isaac was threatening to replicate the physical damage that Katrina inflicted, it has become apparent that $14 billion worth of changes and improvements in infrastructure, planning, and emergency response procedures have given the city of New Orleans and the Gulf states the ability to withstand the worst of the storm

  • Isaac leaves flooding, power outages in its path

    Hurricane Isaac lost its Category 1 hurricane status midday Wednesday and was downgraded to a tropical storm, but the severe rains and winds which it brought with it have not let up much; the number of power outages continues to increase as the number of homes and businesses without electricity is now up to 834,000 between Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Texas, and Arkansas, with over one-third of the outages in Louisiana alone

  • Drones being used to track hurricanes

    Federal hurricane trackers will start experimenting with unmanned boats and aircrafts to learn more about how to anticipate and track the movements of hurricanes; NASAand the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA) are teaming up and using a pair of military-surplus Global Hawk spy drones, which are known more for spying on battlefields than chasing storms