• A warming world would add billions to shipping costs

    As anyone with a boat knows, many sorts of marine life can attach themselves to a hull below the waterline; on a large ship, the weight of such hitchhikers — everything from algae to barnacles to small colonies of coral — can weigh as much as ten tons; the U.S. shipping industry spends more than $36 billion each year in added fuel costs to overcome the drag induced by clinging marine life or for anti-fouling paint that prevents that life from hitching a ride in the first place; global warming will see the problem of hull-clinging creatures worsen substantially

  • States challenge federal policy on nuclear waste storage

    The search for a permanent solution to the storage of nuclear waste continues as three states sued the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) last week over its new policy on spent fuel; in December NRC issued a new policy stating that nuclear waste could be safely stored at a power plant for sixty years after a reactor went out of service; the issue of nuclear storage has become increasingly contentious after the Obama administration ruled out the use of a Department of Energy storage site in Nevada in 2009; nuclear plants have been forced to turn temporary on-site storage into long-term facilities as no permanent site has been built; the Obama administration launched a commission to find alternatives for the permanent nuclear storage site in Nevada that it cancelled

  • Budget cuts will hamper U.S. outbreak response

    Public health advocates are criticizing the Obama administration’s 2012 budget request for cutting funding from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) emergency preparedness and core disease prevention programs; advocates believe that these cuts will seriously hamper the ability of the United States to respond effectively to large disease outbreaks or a biological terrorist attack; since 2005 funding for these programs has been reduced by nearly 30 percent, and in 2008 more than 20,000 public health jobs have been cut while thousands of workers have had their hours reduced; GAO reports warn that the federal government needs to strengthen its abilities to respond to pandemics, bioterrorism, and natural disasters

  • To boldly go -- but at a leisurely pace

    In 1961 President John Kennedy committed the United States to land a man on the moon “before this decade is out”; DARPA new space project has a more lackadaisical time table: building an interstellar starship capable of carrying people to other star systems than our own by the year 2100AD

  • Aussie "thinking cap" makes brain waves

    Scientists in Australia say they are encouraged by initial results of a revolutionary “thinking cap” that aims to promote creativity by passing low levels of electricity through the brain; the device works by suppressing the left side of the brain, associated with knowledge, and stimulating the right side, linked to creativity.

  • Robot marathon announced -- 26.2 miles to robotic glory

    Japan’s Vstone company has announced its Robotic Challenge: the bipedal bots will race around a 100 meter track for 422 laps, either remotely controlled or operating completely autonomously, by following a painted line; the contest is unlikely to feature sprinting or even jogging competitors; rather, this race will go to the strong and steady robot that can survive the repeated wear and tear on its servos

  • Manhole covers help orient urban robots

    It is critical for robots to check their calculated position every now and then against a known GPS position — because robot wheels can slip (their rotations are counted to give position estimates) or a robot’s leg stride can be miscalculated, leaving dead reckoning dead in the water; the solution: have robots in urban environments orient themselves by manhole covers; manhole covers are amongst the more permanent of objects in our built environment and, better still, they are made of metal — and so are easily detectable by a simple metal detecting scanner

  • Drought in China threatens wheat crop and send global prices soaring

    UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned that a severe drought was threatening China’s wheat crop and could result in shortages of drinking water; analysts fear that wheat prices could soar even higher if China were to begin importing large quantities of food to feed more than a billion hungry mouths; wheat prices are already at record highs and have sparked food related protests around the world; surging prices are partially responsible for Egypt and Tunisia’s recent mass uprisings; China’s Shandong province, a major agricultural region, has only received fifteen percent of its normal rain levels; in dire terms Chinese state media reported that “land is drying out, and the crops are dying”

  • U.S. unprepared for climate-induced disease outbreaks

    Officials warn that the United States is not equipped to handle the spread of infectious diseases caused by climate change; little investment or progress has been made in bolstering disease detection and response capabilities in the United States, despite warnings from intelligence agencies; increased heat, humidity, and rainfall have caused the spread of mosquitoes and other bugs which carry deadly tropical diseases to new areas where people have yet build up a resistance; the United States is now experiencing outbreaks of dengue fever and West Nile virus; in 2010 the CDC reported 110 deaths and 1,356 cases of West Nile virus in the United States; intelligence agencies also worry about the potential for the spread of these diseases to destabilize fragile nations across Asia and Africa

  • Powerful magnets developed to end rare earths dependency

    Scientists at General Electric’s Global Research are currently developing powerful new magnets that are stronger, lighter, and use less rare Earth metals; researchers hope that the new magnets will help reduce U.S. dependence on China’s supplies of rare Earth metals, which have been subject to disruption; the new magnets are being created with nanocomposites which consist of combining tiny particles of various magnetic alloys to create more reactive coatings; GE has received $2.25 million from the Department of Energy to develop these magnets

  • A fast, simple test for detecting cholera

    The new detection method uses specially prepared nanoparticles of iron oxide, each barely 1/50,000th the width of a single human hair, coated with a type of sugar called dextran; to achieve this, the scientists looked for specific characteristics of the cholera toxin receptor (GM1) found on cells’ surface in the victim’s gut, and then they introduced these features to their nanoparticles; when the magnetic nanoparticles are added to water, blood, or other fluids to be tested, the cholera toxin binds to the nanoparticles in a way that can be easily detected by instruments

  • Smart fence distinguishes real from imagined threats

    A new sensor system can tell between someone simply leaning against a fence and a ne’er-do-well sneaking around; the device, developed by researchers at the University of Southern California, contains signal processing based on the way the brain works

  • Melting glaciers threaten Peru

    Rising temperatures have caused glaciers in Peru to melt at alarming rates; Peru depends heavily on rivers fed by glaciers to provide drinking water, irrigation, and electricity; some scientists estimate that in ten years, whole glaciers will disappear entirely from the Andes; millions of Peruvians depend entirely on the glacier fed rivers as their primary source for water; the United States fears that water, food, and power shortages in Peru could cause stability and spark conflict across the region

  • Breakthrough in free-electron laser development

    Breakthroughs in Free-Electron Laser (FEL) technology could mean a virtually impenetrable defense system for Navy ships; the laser weapon has the capability to detect and engage incoming cruise missiles at the speed of light without running out of ammunition

  • Foreign orders for Mass.-built bomb-disposal robots

    Massachusetts-based robot maker received orders for twenty-seven additional bomb-disposal robots from unnamed international customers; the company has delivered bomb-disposal robots to more than twenty-five countries