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Pervious concrete may eliminate need for storm drains
A Minnesota town experiments with a new concrete paving method that lets rainwater pass right through the street surface to prevent damaging runoff
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Rules of war to be programmed into robots' decision making
Georgia tech researcher has developed an “ethical governor” which aims to ensure that robot attack aircraft behave ethically in combat
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DARPA looking for Genesis-style AI lifeforms
DARPA has issued a solicitation for ideas about self-organizing Tetris AIs and smart-vat superlife on cards; the research organization appears to be seeking nothing less than the creation of artificial intelligent lifeforms
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First batch of swine flu vaccine shipped
Connecticut-based company ships first batch — 100,000 doses — of its swine flu vaccine; Protein Sciences Corporation uses insect cell technology to develop the vaccine
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U Michigan students develop portable device to detect suicide bombers
Wolverines engineering graduate students develop a small, light, cheap, and effective IED and suicide-bomber detector; the detectors are designed to be part of a wireless sensor network that conveys to a base station where suspicious objects are located and who might be carrying them
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Using cloth to protect military vehicles from RPGs
British company shows a newly developed textile which is strong enough to protect battle-field vehicles from RPGs
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GAO unimpressed with new radiation detectors
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommended further testing of next-generation radiation detectors; at more than $800,000 apiece, the new devices cost nearly 300 percent more than the machines in operation
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Hiding buildings from earthquakes
The seismic waves of an earthquake fall into two main groups: body waves that propagate through the Earth, and surface waves that travel only across the surface; invisibility cloaks could be used to make buildings invisible to surface waves
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Method discovered to process encrypted data without knowing its content
IBM researcher solves thorny mathematical problem that has confounded scientists since the invention of public-key encryption several decades ago; the breakthrough makes possible the analysis of encrypted information — data that has been intentionally scrambled — without sacrificing confidentiality
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Trust but verify, II
British and Norwegian scientists ran the first field trials of a device that could solve the problem of reliable verification: a gamma ray detector linked to a hand-held “information barrier”
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U.K. government: Best cyber defense is cyber offense
New National Security Strategy document includes, for the first time, a public cyber security strategy; unnamed high government source: “We don’t want to engage in cyber war but we can’t remain a target for criminals to take a pop at”
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Licensing cybersecurity professionals, II
Even with all the unanswered questions, some cybersecurity experts are happy just to be having the conversation on the topic; they say that all the focus on cybersecurity will turn more attention on training and certification efforts
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Iran tests radar-evading UAV
Commander of the Iranian air force says the service has successfully tested a home-grown, radar-evading UAV; the UAV is intended for both surveillance and bombing missions
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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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The long view
A Shining Star in a Contentious Legacy: Could Marty Makary Be the Saving Grace of a Divisive Presidency?
While much of the Trump administration has sparked controversy, the FDA’s consumer-first reforms may be remembered as its brightest legacy. From AI-driven drug reviews to bans on artificial dyes, the FDA’s agenda resonates with the public in ways few Trump-era policies have.
Risk Assessment with Machine Learning
Researchers utilize geological survey data and machine learning algorithms for accurately predicting liquefaction risk in earthquake-prone areas.
Foundation for U.S. Breakthroughs Feels Shakier to Researchers
With each dollar of its grants, the National Institutes of Health —the world’s largest funder of biomedical research —generates, on average, $2.56 worth of economic activity across all 50 states. NIH grants also support more than 400,000 U.S. jobs, and have been a central force in establishing the country’s dominance in medical research. Waves of funding cuts and grant terminations under the second Trump administration are a threat to the U.S. status as driver of scientific progress, and to the nation’s economy.
The True Cost of Abandoning Science
“We now face a choice: to remain at the vanguard of scientific inquiry through sound investment, or to cede our leadership and watch others answer the big questions that have confounded humanity for millennia —and reap the rewards.”
Bookshelf: Smartphones Shape War in Hyperconnected World
The smartphone is helping to shape the conduct and representation of contemporary war. A new book argues that as an operative device, the smartphone is now “being used as a central weapon of war.”
New Approach Detects Adversarial Attacks in Multimodal AI Systems
New vulnerabilities have emerged with the rapid advancement and adoption of multimodal foundational AI models, significantly expanding the potential for cybersecurity attacks. Topological signatures key to revealing attacks, identifying origins of threats.