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Army lab find 9,220 uncatalogued vials of Ebola, anthrax, and plague
U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Fort Detrick, Maryland finds 9,220 unregistered vials of Ebola, anthrax, plague, and other pathogens
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Licensing cybersecurity professionals, I
There is a move in Congress to require the Commerce Department to develop or coordinate and integrate a national licensing, certification, and periodic recertification program for cybersecurity professionals
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Global Security Challenge's final to be held 13 November
The deadline for submission of entries to the Global Security Challenge open competition is over; now we wait to see the regional winners who will gather in London on 13 November
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BAE promotes intelligence, security start-ups
BAE’s inviting SMEs in the intelligence and security sector to come forward with innovative technologies as part of its Investment in Innovation program
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USAF looks for more discriminating UAVs
The increased use of UAVs in Pakistan has also increased the number of civilians being killed in attacks on insurgents; one of the main reasons is the fact that the least powerful munition they fire is Hellfire missiles, which are intended to puncture the tough armor of tanks; USAF plans to build smaller, even microscopic drones with smaller weapons that can hunt in swarms and engage targets in the close quarters of urban battlefields
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Drug smuggling becomes more sophisticated, II
Drug smugglers now use semi-submersibles which are 60 foot long and 12 feet wide fiberglass boats powered by a diesel engine, with a very low freeboard and a small “conning tower” providing the crew (usually of four) and engine with fresh air, and permitting the crew to navigate the boat
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Eye-tracking device could keep drowsing drivers awake
Swedish company develops an eye-tracking device embedded on a single chip; device may keep drivers awake on long drives
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U.K. government to give up on massive Internet snoop scheme
The Home Office admits that its IMP (Interception Modernization Program) — the cost of which was to be £2 billion over ten years — cannot be realized because the technology does not yet exist
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Israel shows -- and sells -- sophisticated loitering munition system
Israel used the Paris Air Show to display the Harop, a robo-kamikaze device; the defense-suppressing weapon loiters in the air and transmits back video to its control station just like a surveillance drone; if a target is found — typically, an enemy radar —the Harop can then fly down and crash into it with unerring precision, detonating its 50 lb warhead as it does so
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U.S. cybersecurity chief says there is a lucrative market in malware
Philip Reitinger: “There is an entire community of people who are involved, organized crime is involved” in cybercrime underground market economy
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DOE awards $9 million to encourage nuclear power eduction
Funds will benefit nuclear science and engineering students and university research infrastructure
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Researchers find ways to slow down deformation of concrete
Concrete is used in practically all forms of construction — buildings, bridges, tunnels, dams; trouble is, it deforms and crumbles over time; MIT researchers discover the reasons for the gradual deformation of concrete, a discovery which will lead to concrete infrastructures capable of lasting hundreds of years rather than tens
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Building sturdier structures in hurricane-prone areas
The hurricane season is upon us; an architecture professor offers tips on how to build — and how not to build — sturdier structures in hurricane-prone regions
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Chatham creates School of Sustainability and the Environment
Two trends — globalization and the centralization of food production — have pushed food safety issues to the fore; Chatham University launches a new degree program designed to provide students with “a deep understanding of the issues surrounding food such as the environmental costs of food production and distribution, cultural issues, sustainability of communities, and safety of the food supply”
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Quantum computing nears with European QAP project
QAP co-coordinator Professor Ian Walmsley: “Quantum computing, when it arrives, could make all current cryptographic technology obsolete”
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More headlines
The long view
Autonomous Vehicle Technology Vulnerable to Road Object Spoofing and Vanishing Attacks
Researchers have demonstrated the potentially hazardous vulnerabilities associated with the technology called LiDAR, or Light Detection and Ranging, many autonomous vehicles use to navigate streets, roads and highways. The researchers have shown how to use lasers to fool LiDAR into “seeing” objects that are not present and missing those that are – deficiencies that can cause unwarranted and unsafe braking or collisions.
Tantalizing Method to Study Cyberdeterrence
Tantalus is unlike most war games because it is experimental instead of experiential — the immersive game differs by overlapping scientific rigor and quantitative assessment methods with the experimental sciences, and experimental war gaming provides insightful data for real-world cyberattacks.
Prototype Self-Service Screening System Unveiled
TSA and DHS S&T unveiled a prototype checkpoint technology, the self-service screening system, at Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas, NV. The aim is to provide a near self-sufficient passenger screening process while enabling passengers to directly receive on-person alarm information and allow for the passenger self-resolution of those alarms.
Falling Space Debris: How High Is the Risk I'll Get Hit?
An International Space Station battery fell back to Earth and, luckily, splashed down harmlessly in the Atlantic. Should we have worried? Space debris reenters our atmosphere every week.
Testing Cutting-Edge Counter-Drone Technology
Drones have many positive applications, bad actors can use them for nefarious purposes. Two recent field demonstrations brought government, academia, and industry together to evaluate innovative counter-unmanned aircraft systems.
Strengthening the Grid’s ‘Backbone’ with Hydropower
Argonne-led studies investigate how hydropower could help add more clean energy to the grid, how it generates value as grids add more renewable energy, and how liner technology can improve hydropower efficiency.