• U.S. rocketry competition is under way

    Future rocket scientists: Twenty college teams to meet in Huntsville, Alabama, to compete in rocket design; event is designed to inspire young people to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics

  • Annual space trajectory competition begins

    European Space Agency announces Global Trajectory Optimization Competition; competition seeks to find the best solution to an interplanetary trajectory problem

  • Bomb-proof concrete developed

    Liverpool University researchers develop blast-resistant concrete; the Ultra High Performance Fiber Reinforced Concrete is able to absorb a thousand times more energy than conventional mixtures

  • U.K. companies invest in R&D

    Survey of R&D spending by the 850 U.K. companies most active in R&D and the 1,400 most active companies globally show that U.K. companies increased their R&D budgets by 6 percent (the top 88 companies increased their budgets by 10.3 percent); global competitors average a 9.5 percent increase

  • The global consequence of a regional nuclear war

    The world should be worried about a regional nuclear war between India and Pakistan because the consequences of such a war will be anything but regional; scientists say that one billion people may starve to death around the world, and hundreds of millions more will die from disease and conflicts over food

  • How long will the world's uranium deposits last?

    At current consumption rates, the planet’s economically accessible uranium resources could fuel reactors for more than 200 years; further exploration and improvements in extraction technology are likely to at least double this estimate over time; if we extract uranium from seawater, and build breeder reactors, then supplies will last 30,000 to 60,000 years

  • NASA working on sonic boom-less jets

    Sonic booms are one of the major downsides of supersonic jets; they may not matter much over the battlefield, but are a hindrance in civilian aviation — the noise was sufficient to restrict the Mach-2 Concorde to subsonic speeds when over land

  • Advanced armor steel developed

    Super-strong military armor could be easier and less expensive to manufacture with a new steel-making process developed by a U.K. Ministry of Defense research facility

  • USDA's IG warns about flood of genetically modified crops

    Experts expect the number of genetically modified crops and traits, and the number of countries producing them, to double by 2015, raising the risks of imports of GM crops unknown to the USDA; worry centers on countries such as China, India, and Brazil where health and safety standards are more lax

  • Homeland security-related college courses bolster graduates' job chances

    There are now more than 150 academic institutions offering homeland security related undergraduate and graduate programs and degrees; this growth mirrors trends and needs in the job market

  • Smiths Detection shows active mm-wave detection system

    Passive mm-wave detection systems pick up the mm-wave heat energy emitted by the body, which is used as a background reference point; active systems transmit mm-wave into the detection area to boost the level of energy overall, give a better return and a more detailed image

  • Kansas wins $450 million biolab

    Kansas State University outlasted four other competitors to win the $450 million DHS National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility

  • New car-stopper uses squids' tentacle-based approach

    Looking for an answer to stop fleeing cars or suicide trucks hurtling toward their target, an Arizona company developed a tentacle-based device that ensnares the vehicle and brings it to a halt

  • Researchers develop silent UAVs

    UAVs are used more and more in surveillance and operational roles on the battlefield — and by the police; the larger UAVs are very noisy, announcing their presence and allowing the adversary to hide or escape; Georgia Institute of Technology researchers work on equipping UAVs with a “whisper” mode

  • Pair behind Chinese counterfeit computer components arrested

    Two California men arrested for illegally exporting sensitive technology to China; pair also accused of conspiring to purchase counterfeit electronic components for distribution in the U.S.