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GE Security, Schiphol to collaborate on security technology
Leading security developer and major European airport will work to develop advanced technology aviation security; collaboration will lead to a real-world evaluation of existing and emerging security products and technologies “from the European perspective”
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Taming food poisoning and bioterrorism toxins
Rutgers researchers offer new insights into how plant toxin ricin kills cells; insights could help scientists develop drugs to counteract poisonings, reducing the threat of ricin as a bioterror weapon
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New consortium to develop safety critical software
High Integrity and Safety Critical Software (HI&SCS) is “the critical enabling technology” (U.K. Ministry of Defense’s words) for modern defense platforms, network enabled capability, and complex infrastructure; York University to lead a industry-academia consortium to develop such software; consortium will emulate the U.S. Software Engineering Institute
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New sensor detects airborne pathogens
MIT lab develops an advanced sensor for airborne pathogen; current sensors take at least twenty minutes to detect harmful bacteria or viruses in the air, but the PANTHER sensors can perform detection and identification in less than three minutes
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Breakthrough: Transcribing entanglement into and out of quantum memory
Caltech researchers demonstrate for the first time an important capability required for the control of quantum information and quantum networks: Coherent conversion of photonic entanglement into and out of separated quantum memories
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New material can find a needle in a nuclear waste haystack
Nuclear power has advantages, but it also comes with a big problem: Nuclear waste; making nuclear power viable long term requires discovering new solutions to radioactive waste disposal and other problems
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iRobot brings robotic WLAN to urban battlefield
Everything you want a robot to be: Portable, small, inexpensive, intelligent, and robust; iRobot will develop robots to serve as relay node for urban battle-field WLAN
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Snake-like robots to help in search and rescue missions
Robots can perform many missions, but they have difficulties operating on uneven, obstacle-strewn surfaces; Norwegian researchers develop a snake-like robot, equipped with sensors, cameras, and communication gear, to slither under, over, and around the rubble of collapsed buildings in search of trapped victims, chemical and biological agents, unexploded munitions, and more — and report back to the command center in real-time
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Israel tests suicide bomber-resistant buses
Since the mid-1990s, Palestinian terrorist organizations have killed and injured hundreds of Israelis by sending suicide bombers to explode themselves on crowded buses; in the last few years, Israeli security measures have prevented this particular form of terrorism, but just to be on the safe side, on of the country’s military contractors is testing fortified buses
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Innovators hitch a ride on drive for national security
Three U.K. companies share their experience in penetrating the U.S. homeland security market; their advice: Identify the right market, build relationships with industry leaders, talk about your programs, and prepare your family for the long hours at the office
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At last: 140 year-old math problem solved by Imperial College researcher
Conformal mapping is a key theoretical tool used by mathematicians, engineers, and scientists to translate information from a complicated shape to a simpler circular shape so that it is easier to analyze; trouble is, until now it only worked for shapes which did not contain any holes or irregularities; attempts to solve these problems have defeated mathematicians for 140 years; a researcher at Imperial College London solves the problem
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Storing wind energy in batteries
Integrating variable wind and solar power production with the needs of the power grid is a major problem of these two alternative sources of energy; a Minnesota company will test technology to to store wind energy and move it to the electricity grid when needed
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Fence to nowhere
DHS received the keys from Boeing — behind schedule, it should be noted — to Project 28, only to find out that it fell short of the promise the department made to Congress, and that Boeing made to the department; Boeing has now received a three-year extension; the Arizona Republic says the failure of Project 28 has deeper meaning for technology and policy
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Worrying about wrong threat weakens U.S. bioterrorism preparedness
Science writer says that the worry about man-made pathogens (or “designer” pathogens) is misplaced; preoccupation with artificial germs has led the government to de-emphasize “one-bug-one-drug” strategy in favor of “broad spectrum technology” aiming to boost the body’s innate, or general, immunity; experts question wisdom of strategy
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On needles and haysacks: New way to deal with large datasets
The ability to gather vast amounts of data and create huge datasets has created a problem: Data has outgrown data analysis; for more than eighty years one of the most common methods of statistical prediction has been maximum likelihood estimation (MLE); Brown University researchers offer a better way to deal with the enormous statistical uncertainty created by large datasets
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More headlines
The long view
New Technology is Keeping the Skies Safe
DHS S&T Baggage, Cargo, and People Screening (BCP) Program develops state-of-the-art screening solutions to help secure airspace, communities, and borders
Factories First: Winning the Drone War Before It Starts
Wars are won by factories before they are won on the battlefield,Martin C. Feldmann writes, noting that the United States lacks the manufacturing depth for the coming drone age. Rectifying this situation “will take far more than procurement tweaks,” Feldmann writes. “It demands a national-level, wartime-scale industrial mobilization.”
How Artificial General Intelligence Could Affect the Rise and Fall of Nations
Visions for potential AGI futures: A new report from RAND aims to stimulate thinking among policymakers about possible impacts of the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI) on geopolitics and the world order.
Smaller Nuclear Reactors Spark Renewed Interest in a Once-Shunned Energy Source
In the past two years, half the states have taken action to promote nuclear power, from creating nuclear task forces to integrating nuclear into long-term energy plans.
Keeping the Lights on with Nuclear Waste: Radiochemistry Transforms Nuclear Waste into Strategic Materials
How UNLV radiochemistry is pioneering the future of energy in the Southwest by salvaging strategic materials from nuclear dumps –and making it safe.
Model Predicts Long-Term Effects of Nuclear Waste on Underground Disposal Systems
The simulations matched results from an underground lab experiment in Switzerland, suggesting modeling could be used to validate the safety of nuclear disposal sites.