• Chicago testing Lake Michigan water for drugs

    Lab tests found traces of pharmaceuticals in the water of Lake Michigan, the source of drinking water for millions in the greater Chicago area; city water authorities launch a thorough water testing campaign

  • Energía renovable en Aragón

    Renewable energy in Spain: Iberdola Renewables, one of Spain’s largest alternative energy companies, forms a joint venture with an Aragón bank to develop clean energy installations in the Aragon region of northeastern Spain

  • Army future combat technology demonstrated for Congress

    The Army exhibited its future combat systems on Capitol Hill last week; among the items demonstrated: urban unattended ground sensors, land warrior, small UGV, and Class I UAV

  • Shape-shifting skin to reduce drag on planes and submarines

    Dolphins induce their skin to wrinkle so water would not stick to them, thus reducing drag and friction; researchers design shape-shifting skin for submarines and planes to reduce drag

  • World's first rocket racing event announced

    The EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, is the world’s largest air show, with this year’s expected attendance of 700,000; on the first two days of August the show will offer a new feature: Rocket racing; home-made rockets will compete

  • Ontario invests in harnessing river flow for energy

    New York City already has it: A Free Flow Turbine in the East River which will generate 10 MW when the project is completed; now Ontario wants to place a three-blade, horizontal-axis turbine on the floor of the St. Lawrence River

  • Energy from vortices

    When water flows over an underwater obstacle, whirlpools or vortices form alternately above and below it; the vortices create a tugging effect, so the result is an alternating force that yanks the object up and down; Wolverines researchers want to harness the power of vortices to generate energy

  • New technology allows for better communication on the battlefield

    Multi-User Detection technology allows radios to transmit at the same time while sharing the same frequency; MUD allows more traffic on various networking systems, which is an advantage to military personnel with critical need for high throughput air-to-air, air-to-ground, and soldier-to-soldier communications

  • USGS says Bakken Formation holds large recoverable oil, gas reserves

    U.S. Geological Survey assesses Bakken Formation to Hold 3 to 4.3 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil — 25 times more than 1995 estimate; in addition, assessment also identified 1.85 trillion cubic feet of associated/dissolved natural gas, and 148 million barrels of natural gas liquids

  • Canadian government blocks sale of MDA space division

    For the first time in the 23-year history of the Investment Canada Act, the federal government blocked a foreign takeover because of a failure of the “net benefit” test; during this period, successive governments have approved 1,587 foreign takeovers; another 11,214 foreign acquisitions required notification under the Act, but not a formal review

  • Stolen military items available for sale online

    GAO investigators buy dozens of prohibited military items on eBay and Craigslist; some of the time would be of direct help to terrorists and insurgents

  • UK Biometrics offers new finger print reader

    Newcastle-based biometric company introduces its Evolution product; company says Evolution can scan one million records per second

  • New way to estimate size and frequency of meteorite impacts

    How large was the meteorite which hit Earth 65 million years ago, leading to the extinction of the dinosaurs? Now we know: Four to six kilometers in diameter; scientists offer new methods to measure the size and frequency of meteorite impact

  • Government admits accidents at Plum Island biolab

    The biolab on Plum Island, off the tip of Long Island, is the only lab allowed to do research on the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease; DHS officials admit that since 1978 here have been several accidental releases of the virus into cattle in holding pens

  • New methods for detecting IEDs

    Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have exerted a painful toll on coalition forces in Iraq, and now in Afghanistan; DHS is worried that IEDs will soon make their deadly appearance on U.S. soil; Wolverines researchers offer a novel methods for detecting IEDs