• UC researcher helps develop device to detect explosives

    Researchers from the University of California-Riverside and the University of Connecticut develop hand-held electronic device that can detect the presence of explosives in high-risk areas where bomb-sniffing dogs are now the best tools for detection

  • New method for generating enzymes will make biofuels cheaper

    If we are going to use biofuels as a meaningful alternative to fossil fuels, then enzymes which can break down plant material into usable source of fuel are required in industrial quantities and at a low cost; Aggies researchers offer new method of generating such enzymes

  • German-Japanese collaboration on carbon dioxide recovery

    Mitsubishi, E.ON to test a system which recovers carbon dioxide from flue-gas emissions at a coal-fired power plant in Germany

  • $30.5 billion U.S. loan guarantees for advanced energy technology

    The U.S. Department of Energy issues three solicitations for a total of up to $30.5 billion in loan guarantees for projects that employ advanced energy technologies that avoid, reduce, or sequester air pollutants or greenhouse gas emissions

  • Melting ice menaces Russia's critical infrastructure

    Russian scientists say that the hard permafrost covering the ground year-round across Russia’s far north will melt by 2030; government officials say that if this happens, critical infrastructure, including key airfields, oil storage facilities, and strategic oil reservoirs, could all be destroyed

  • Shape-shifting, self-powered skyscraper

    Architect unveils design for a moving, shape-shifting skyscraper; each floor would rotate independently; tower would be self-powered, generating its own electricity, as well as power for other nearby buildings

  • Purifying farm-yard waste water

    Scottish researchers develop a method for turning farm-yard waster into water fit to bathe in; new method also prevents loss of contaminants to rivers and lakes, where they may be detrimental to animal or human health

  • Breakthrough: Universal detection system

    Livermore researchers work on developing a universal detection system — a system that can monitor the air for virtually all of the major threat agents that could be used by terrorists: biological, chemical, explosives, and radiological — along with illicit drugs

  • Robot car competition winner on display

    Stanley, a robotic, driver-less car developed by Stanford University and Volkswagen, won the DARPA Grand Challenge in the Mojave Desert in the fall of 2005; it is now on display — appropriately, at the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose

  • Robot sub recharger

    Autonomous underwater vehicles perform more and more missions for both scientific research and security; charging their batteries, though, has always been a problem; a new patent application offers a solution

  • Weight-sensitive aircraft seats

    New plane or helicopter seats will rely on active suspension to sense the forces on the seat and change its levels of cushioning; the seat uses a magnetorheological fluid damper

  • Smith Detection shows peroxide vapor detector

    Peroxide is used in many household chemicals — and by terrorists; Smith Detection shows a hand-held detector which allows for fast detection of IEDs; military and airline industry are primary markets

  • U.S. federal agencies ready for IPv6 D-Day (which is today)

    Agencies expect to meet 30 June deadline; future of IPv6 awaits new president; IPv4 — the current version of the Internet — is running out of address space; IPv6 provides many more addresses — 2 to the 128th power

  • Airless tires may be a lifesaver in military combat

    A Wisconsin company and Badgers researchers develop an airless tire that can withstand extreme punishment, even those meted out in military combat zones

  • Acoustic cloak silences nuisance noise

    Spanish researchers prove metamaterials can be designed to produce an acoustic cloak — a cloak that can make objects impervious to sound waves