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New tire deflating device obviates need for police car chases
Car-chasing a fleeing criminal at high speeds is dangerous to the police and to innocent bystanders; a Wisconsin company, with help from NASA, designs a “throwable” tire deflating device allowing law enforcement to force fleeing car to stop without giving chase
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U.S. product imports exceeded exports for the first time in 2002
NSF: “The comparative advantage held by U.S. advanced technology producers has narrowed considerably in a matter of a few short years”; U.S. loses ground to China
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New protective clothing options for U.K. school-bound kids
Back to school: U.K. clothing manufactures offer school uniforms with embedded satellite tracking devices — and stab-proof t-shirts, hooded tops, and school blazers
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Cumbersome federal acquisition rules an obstacle to IT flexibility
Cumbersome acquisition rules designed for building weapons systems and computing platforms are hampering adoption of rapidly evolving information technology networks
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High-school team wins dancing robot competition
Israeli students shine at international robotics dancing competition; RobCup, the Japanese organization behind the competiton, aims to foster artificial intelligence and robotics research
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Poultry farmers protest DHS rules over propane tanks
DHS rules that propane gas is a “chemical of interest” — and, under the stipulations of the new chemical plant safety law, hundreds of thousands of U.S. poultry farmers must now register with the agency
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Bulletproof backpacks in U.S.
What’s the world coming to: Massachusetts company does brisk business in bulletproof backpacks for school-bound kids
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Robot wars are a reality, so we should develop rules to govern them
More and more, armies give power of life-and-death decisions to machines without reason or conscience; we may want to pause and reflect on this trend
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Robot pilots prove adept at refuelling tasks
Mid-air refueling is tricky, but DARPA has been testing robots that perform the mission impressively
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Directed-energy gun maker receives more money
Critics charge that Ionatron’s ray-gun idea is a “pipe dream on a fast track to zero,” but the weapon system perseveres, and receives more research money from the military
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Vestal shows hand-grenade watch
California company offers a Grenade Watch: It gives you that chic, snappy suicide-bomber look without having to undergo demanding training in Pakistan, messy explosions, and painful martyrdom
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U.S. military grapples with UAV control questions
As more and more UAVs are deployed in the theater, and as the military envisions a UAV-dependent future, the armed services are locked in a bitter fight over who will control these systems
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Behvioral observation method to help athletes, doctors
Technology used to observe and identify suspicious behavior in crowds will be used to help U.K. athletes prepare for 2012 Olympic Games; DARPA uses similar technique to help develop more human-like artifical limbs for injured soldiers
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Eye-catching new Taser sparks controversy
Taser International, not a stranger to controversy, unveils a new — and controversial — designer taser gun; some of the nation’s top police authorities are concerned that the gadgets could easily wind up in the wrong hands
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Costs of changing U.S. passport system to reach $1 billion
Congress, DHS want Amercians traveling to Western Hemisphere countries to carry passports; the administration initially figured it would cost $289 million between 2006 and 2008 to handle the increase in demand for passports; in fact, it will cost about 1 billion
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The long view
Nuclear Has Changed. Will the U.S. Change with It?
Fueled by artificial intelligence, cloud service providers, and ambitious new climate regulations, U.S. demand for carbon-free electricity is on the rise. In response, analysts and lawmakers are taking a fresh look at a controversial energy source: nuclear power.
Huge Areas May Face Possibly Fatal Heat Waves if Warming Continues
A new assessment warns that if Earth’s average temperature reaches 2 degrees C over the preindustrial average, widespread areas may become too hot during extreme heat events for many people to survive without artificial cooling.
Exploring the New Nuclear Energy Landscape
In the last few years, the U.S. has seen a resurgence of interest in nuclear energy and its potential for helping meet the nation’s growing demands for clean electricity and energy security. Meanwhile, nuclear energy technologies themselves have advanced, opening up new possibilities for their use.