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U.K. science community welcomes Rose Review of primary curriculum
The body representing the U.K.’s foremost science education organizations said it welcomed the publication the other day of the Rose Review which suggested reforms of of the entire primary science curriculum
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U.K. government in £100 million scheme to promote new ideas, products
U.K. government launches a new 100 million scheme — the Small Business Research Initiative — to encourage public-sector organizations to invite British companies to submit ideas and develop technologies, which the public-sector organization could then buy to help improve public services
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Aussie company improves food pasteurizing
Normally processors would have to use preservatives or heat the product and this inevitably changes the taste and destroys some nutrients; new method — called high-pressure processing (HPP) — uses pressure instead
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Smart Grid offers savings, vulnerabilities
A bill to be presented in Congress today aims to stop utility hackers; experts, legislators call for regulations on smart power meters to reduce new grid’s vulnerability to hacking
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Skin-patch deliver flu vaccine
Researchers at Emory and Georgia Tech develop a microneedle skin patch that delivers flue vaccine; the patches contain an array of stainless-steel microneedles coated with an inactivated influenza virus
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DARPA awards Lockheed $399.9 million for blimp
Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest defense contractor, receives nearly $400 million from the Pentagon to develop a blimp-carrying radar; the radar would be about 6,000 square meters (7,176 square yards) in size
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Dutch flying car company, well, takes off
Dutch flying car company PAL-V is gearing up for market launch of its flying car; it is Europe’s response to Massachusetts-based Terrafugia’s Transition
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Experts: Levees will not save New Orleans from Katrina-like storm
National Academy of Engineering panel says that even the strongest levees and flood walls cannot be guaranteed to save New Orleans from another hurricane like Katrina
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Chemical robot shows possibility of electronics-free robots
The Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction is one of a class of chemical systems in which the concentration of one or more compounds periodically increases and decreases; the oscillation thus generated creates an autonomous material that moves without electronic stimulation; door opens for future chemical robots: they will be “self organized” and generate their own control and mechanical signals from within
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New sensor system protects ports, bridges, and distribution centers
Sensor networks are an efficient, cost-effective way to monitor critical infrastructure facilities, distributions centers, and more; trouble is, to work effectively you need a very large number of them, and they all have to work collaboratively; a Dutch university researcher offers a better way of achieving this
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Studying U.K.'s transportation system's resilience
The U.K. government funds a four-year study to examine whether the U.K. transportation system is resilient enough to withstand climate changes
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Silk tougher and lighter than steel
German scientists develop a technique to make silk tougher and lighter than steel — and even more elastic than spider’s silk; material may be used in surgical threats, bullet proof vests, and artificial tissue
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DHS: brain music to relax first responders
DHS to use technique which measures a first responder’s brain signatures by using an electroencephalogram, then turn them into synthesized piano music — either a stress-reducing relaxation track, or an alertness-boosting one “for improved concentration and decision-making”
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Financial crisis offers opportunities for start-ups
A world of failing corporate titans and changing government policy is chaotic, but chaos creates opportunity and leaner times bring focus; savvy and nimble start-ups are in a position to exploit the situation
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Self-healing concrete for safer, durable, and cheaper-to-maintain infrastructure
Wolverines researchers develop self-healing concrete; the concrete self-heals itself when it develops cracks; no human intervention required — only water and carbon dioxide
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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.