• Dutch build sand dunes to fight rising seas

    More than eighteen million cubic meters of sand are dredged from the bottom of the ocean and brought back to land to form new dunes; the new dunes — each 30 to 60 meters wide, and rising up to 10 meters above sea level — are built along a 20-kilometer stretch of the shore

  • MIT researchers develop a smart anchor which mimics the razor clam

    The razor clam is about seven inches long by an inch wide, but it can dig into the ocean floor at a rate of about a centimeter a second; researchers also say that in a measure of anchoring force, or how hard you pull before an anchor rips out of the soil compared to the energy required to embed the anchor, razor clams beat everything, including the best anchors, by at least a factor of 10

  • Using rope to fight pirates

    New antipiracy device uses compressed air to fire a plastic cylinder containing either a coiled rope or net up to a range of 400 meters; the coiled line of net or rope, which has a parachute attached to the end, will unravel and lay out across the surface of the water; as a pirate boat travels through the water its propeller shaft will pick up the line and become entangled

  • New antiterror technology tool uses human logic

    A new interactive image-based software can be used on touch-screen table-top displays and other large-screen systems better to manage the huge amounts of data collected in connection with alleged terrorist plots

  • Stopping rampaging elephants in their tracks

    Elephants are an integral part of many Hindu rituals; elephants often feel uncomfortable with all the noise and and distractions around them, and at time a herd of elephants may begin to rampage; an Indian inventor offers a solution to stop rampaging elephants in their tracks

  • U.S. Air Force looking for miniature weapons for UAVs

    Currently, UAVs in combat overseas mostly use standard air weapons; the lightest, most delicate option available to a prowling UAVs is the Hellfire missile, a hefty hundred-pound laser guided rocket which was originally developed for the purpose of taking out heavily-armored main battle tanks; the U.S. Air Force tasks Boeing’s Phantom Works with developing a smaller, lighter missile more suitable for fighting terrorists

  • "Fingerprinting" RFID tags will prevent counterfeiting

    RFID tags embedded in objects will become the standard way to identify objects and link them to the cyberworld; trouble is, it is easy to clone an RFID tag by copying the contents of its memory and applying them to a new, counterfeit tag, which can then be attached to a counterfeit product — or person, in the case of these new e-passports; researchers develop an electronic fingerprinting system to prevent this from happening

  • Buildings made of prefabricated straw prove to be fire-resistant

    Researchers at Bath University test panels made from prefabricated straw-bale and hemp by exposing them to temperatures over 1,000°C; to reach the required building standard, the panels had to withstand the heat for more than thirty minutes, but more than two hours later — four times as long as required — the panels had still not failed

  • GE Global Research to develop wearable RFID chemical sensor

    GE Global Research will develop a wearable radio-frequency-identification (RFID) sensors to alert people to the presence of chemicals in the air; as the sensors can be made at a size smaller than a penny, they could form part of an identification badge that would provide an early warning for people about the presence of chemical agents

  • NASA develops chemical-detection app for iPhone

    NASA’s Homeland Security Cell-All program has developed an intriguing application to Apple’s phone in the form of a stamp-sized chemical sniffing device; the prototype chemical sensor can sniff small amounts of chemicals like methane, ammonia, and chlorine gas

  • Oregon's bridges to be readied for the Big One

    There are 2,671 bridges in Oregon’s highway system; researchers develop a computer model which, for the first time, gives state authorities bridge-by-bridge estimates of damage, repair cost, and traffic delay costs associated with a shattering western Oregon quake; the new tool would allow engineers to prioritize which of the state’s bridges should get seismic upgrades

  • Researchers look for a better way to build bridges

    Canadian researchers look for ways to make bridges sturdier; one project looks at the use of advanced fiber-reinforced polymers (FRPs) to protect critical concrete infrastructure against extreme shocks; the second study involves the use of ultra high-performance concrete (UHPC) to build long-life, lightweight and cost-effective bridges

  • Interference-free radio from Cambridge Consultants

    Cambridge Consultants shows a novel “spectral sensing” cognitive radio technology that will allow any radio product to transmit without interference over the so-called “whitespace” frequencies recently vacated by the U.S. digital TV switchover

  • DARPA looking for methods to freeze soldiers with brain injuries

    Traumatic brain injuries are caused by repeated exposure to blasts, specifically the “supersonic wave” of highly-pressurized air they emit; within a fraction of a second after impact, brain cells, tissues, and blood vessels are stretched, torn, and distorted; over the hours, days, and months that follow, altered brain processes create a snowball effect of damage — which is why symptoms often don’t show up until troops come home; in its solicitation, DARPA notes that a portable brain-cooling unit, deployed in the field, could “extend the golden hour of patient survivability and increase the chances for full recovery”

  • Anticipating new diseases, bioterror methods

    The 150 researchers at the University of Florida’s Emerging Pathogens Institute work to anticipate and respond to new diseases and old ones — such as tuberculosis and cholera — that can turn into new threats or make a comeback