• New nonlethal weapons uses light flashes to disorient adversary

    As the debate over nonlethal weapons continue — are they more humane because they do not kill? Are they instruments of torture? — DHS funds the development of flash-light-based system which incapacitates by flashing LED lights at several specific frequencies

  • Beyond fingerprinting: Alternative biometric technologies advance

    As more organizations turn to biometric technology to help them perform their missions, they show interest in a variety of technologies — vein architecture, retinal scan, facial recognition, and more; these are good times for innovative biometric companies

  • U.S. to lose a generation of young medical, biology researchers

    Five consecutive years of flat funding the budget of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is deterring promising young researchers and threatening the future of U.S. health, a group of seven preeminent academic research institutions warn

  • Invention turns trash into ethanol

    Two University of Maryland researchers develop a process which turns trash into ethanol; the researchers found that a Chesapeake Bay marsh grass bacterium has an enzyme that could quickly break down plant materials into sugar, which can then be converted to biofuel

  • ThruVision shows T5000 T-ray security imaging system

    T-rays operate in the terahertz region of the electromagnetic spectrum; T-ray-based detection system can see through clothing of still or moving individuals at a distance of up to twenty-five meters to reveal hidden objects

  • Fuel cell joint venture formed

    In an effort to accelerate the development of fuel cells, two companies form a JV to target the light industrial, commercial, and residential markets in the United Kingdom and Ireland

  • New camera vastly improves surveillance

    Revolutionary camera design could have far-reaching implications for the military, crime prevention, and enforcement as well as traffic analysis and emergency response support; design is based on an array of light sensitive chips placed at the focal plane of a large multiple-lens system

  • Aussie-Chinese collaboration on clean coal

    Australia, China in collaborative clean coal effort; the goal is to hone the post combustion capture (PCC) process, which uses a liquid to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from power station flue gases

  • European consortium to improve ground-probing radar

    Effort aims to allow ground-based radars to penetrate deeper; scientists hope to create a new radar-based sensor that can be attached to drill heads to give operators real-time information about obstacles in the drill path

  • Measuring the size of waves

    Surfers — and wave energy converters — benefit from a having more accurate sense of the size and intensity of waves; Scottish researchers developed a technique to make the exploitation of wave energy more efficient with a device that measures the size of each wave approaching the converter

  • Invisibility cloak for nanoparticles designed

    Researchers design invisibility cloak for nanoparticles; the new particle invisibility cloak will help create a vast array of new material technologies that combine unknown property combinations such as strength and durability with optical transparency

  • RAF buys UAVs to fight Taliban

    U.S. forces have been using UAVs with ever-greater lethality against al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan and Pakistan; the United Kingdom is buying three Reaper UAVs at £10 million each — it will eventually buy twelve — to help British forces in Afghanistan

  • Pursuit Dynamics to install ethanol reactor tower in Oregon

    British specialist’s bioethanol system yields 14 percent more ethanol, while reducing overall fermentation time by more than 20 percent; system will be tested in Oregon

  • Sea cucumber inspires new plastic for body armor, brain implants

    Sea cucumbers’ skin is usually supple, allowing them to slide through narrow spaces between rocks and corals; when touched, however, a defensive reaction makes their skin go rigid in seconds, thanks to enzymes that bind protein fibers together; researchers apply this process to clothing, creating garments which switch stiffness in response to a pulse of electricity

  • Researchers show principles of mind-reading machine

    Researchers have developed a more sophisticated way to extract visual stimuli from brain signals; they developed a computational model that uses functional MRI (fMRI) data to decode information from an individual’s visual cortex; system may help in decoding dreams, and may offer a more humane interrogation technique