• Unisys: Technology "consumerization," mobility risks key drivers of security investments

    A Unisys briefing says that the growing pervasiveness of technology consumerization and mobility opens businesses to new risks across a broader spectrum; economy compels greater need for collaboration, more intelligent systems, and better fraud prevention; biometric use and acceptance also to increase

  • Doomsday seed vault's stores are growing

    In 1903, U.S. farmers planted 578 varieties of beans; by 1983 just 32 varieties remained in seedbanks; 46 countries collaborate to rescue some 53,000 of the 100,000 crop samples identified as endangered

  • Researchers spoof, bypass face-recognition authentication systems

    Vietnamese researchers have cracked facial recognition technology in Lenovo, Asus, and Toshiba laptops; the researchers demonstrated feat at this week’s Black Hat DC event

  • U.S. Army, law enforcement agencies, working on EMP grenades

    Electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, has been typically associated with high-altitude nuclear explosions — explosions which disable electronic devices hundreds of miles away from the explosion; militaries and law enforcement want a hand-grenade-size EMP device for use in war and crime-fighting

  • Flying stretcher can keep four patients and a medic aloft for hours

    The flying stretcher is a combination of a car and a helicopter, allowing for four wounded soldiers and a medic to be carried; it has an enclosed fan which allows for a vertical takeoff in areas tighter than a helicopter can manage

  • New threat to Earth: "Dark" comets

    There are 5,000 known near Earth objects (NEOs) orbiting between Mars and Venus, of which 789 have been identified as potentially hazardous objects because they might pass within 5 million miles of Earth; scientists say that with better observation techniques, we will likely find at least 66,000 NEOs, of which 18,000 will be potentially hazardous objects; scientists now say that there are also about 3,000 dark comets buzzing around, of which only 25 are known

  • DARPA can help slumping U.S. economy

    Expert: DARPA should be used in expanded ways to help the U.S. economy and American society

  • DARPA wants shrink-blade helicopters

    DARPA is looking at a helicopter — or “morphcopter” — with shrinking blades; adjustable shrinking blades would offer performance benefits and options such as whisper mode for easier operations in confined spaces

  • Stimulus package offers billions for scientific research

    Both House and Senate versions of the economic stimulus package direct billion of dollars toward scientific research; biomedical research is among the big winners, while physics appears to be among the losers

  • Iran's rocket more advanced than initially thought

    Iran used a Safir-2 rocket to launch a satellite into space last week; it now emerges that the rocket used a cryogenic fuel system involving liquid oxygen; this means that Iran has made an important step toward acquiring the ability to launch astronauts into space — and deliver nuclear weapons on Europe, Israel, and other targets of choice

  • DHS focuses on technology component of border network

    With a 700-mile section of the U.S.-Mexico fence almost complete, DHS shift its focus to the technology program designed to stop border crossings

  • Better detection with self-healing wireless sensor network

    New self-forming, self-healing wireless mesh sensor network can detect railway embankment landslides, humidity in art museums, water quality in water treatment facilities — and has military and security applications such as a perimeter network that can detect intrusion through breaking a light beam, or triggering a tripwire, or proximity sensor

  • Face recognition biometrics wedded to cell phones

    Face and iris recognition biometrics are good technologies, but people have to play along: They have to place their faces near the glass, look straight into the camera, make sure the light is just right; the U.S. intelligence community’s researchers want to solve this problem

  • Ocean water rising unevenly; Washington, D.C. may be submerged

    Rather than spreading out evenly across all the oceans, water from melted Antarctic ice sheets will gather around North America and the Indian Ocean;this is bad news for the U.S. East Coast, which could bear the brunt of one of these oceanic bulges

  • Qinetiq to lead effort to reduce friendly fire accidents

    Qinetiq, General Dynamics United Kingdom, and Rockwell Collins have been awarded £3 million by the U.K. Ministry of Defense to develop the Joint Data Network Combat Identification Server Technical Demonstrator