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Private equity firms focus on India's clean technology sector
Several PE firms allocate investments in India’s clean technology sector from their general funds, but others create India-only funds to focus on the sector even more
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Knowledge-based system to aid in suicide bomber detection
Viaspace to apply NASA’s SHINE IA system (the company calls it “real-time inference engine technology”) to develop suicide bomber detection tool
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Phononic computer processes information with heat
In addition to electronic computers and (theoretical) optical computers, we now have heat-based computers; such computers are based on logic gates in which inputs and outputs are represented by different temperatures; in run-of-the-mill electronic computers, inputs and outputs are represented by different voltages
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Former spooks run intelligence gathering and analysis outfit
Erik Prince’s security empire has an outfit called Total Intelligence Solutions which collects intelligence about natural disasters, business-friendly governments, overseas regulations, and global political developments for clients in industry and government
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Combining RFID tags with sensors
RFID tags are also in use to track the location of items to which they are attached; a German research institute develops RFID sensors to continuously monitor moisture, temperature, light, and acceleration; new tags will keep a closer eye items throughout the supply chain, and may be used to secure cargo containers
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Carnegie Mellon wins Urban Challenge
Tartan racing team wins DARPA’s robotic vehicles contest; Stanford comes in second, Virginia Tech third; cause of robotic driving machines advanced
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World's first: Fully functional nanotube radio
U.S.-Berkeley researchers develop world’s smallest radio: All four essential components of a radio — antenna, tuner, amplifier, and demodulator — are implemented within a single carbon nanotube; a carbon nanotube is one billionth of a meter in diameter and less than a micron in length
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DARPA-funded UCSD research yields world's most complex phased array
Tritons researchers develop world’s most complex phased array; the 16-element chip is just 3.2 by 2.6 square millimeters, can send at 30-50 GHz
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Lockheed Martin in successful test of THAAD
Lockheed Martin, U.S. Missile Defense Agency successfully test missile defense system in detecting, tracking, and intercepting incoming unitary target above the Earth’s atmosphere
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Nanotechnology used in new anti-ballistic materials
Breakthrough in personal protection equipment: Aussie researchers use carbon nanotubes to create bullet-resistant materials for use in protection of first responders, law enforcement, and soldiers; material causes bullets to bounce off without trace or damage
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NEC successfully tests wideband wearable antenna
The major hurdle in using conductive fabrics was that soldering was not possible; NEC solves problem: Power is supplied to a small flexible print substrate by a soldered coaxial cable, so that power supply is possible through capacity coupling with the substrate
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A first: Reaper armed UAV fires first Hellfire missile in combat
The U.S. Air Force deployed MQ-9A Reaper armed reconnaissance UAVs to Afghanistan, and last week a Reaper launched a missile at enemy combatants some seventy miles from the UAV’s base at Kandahar; al-Queda operatives across the border in Pakistan’s North-West Territories would do well to go even deeper underground
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Maryland State Police to gather critical infrastructure data from air
Johns Hopkins’s APL develops new technology which allows officers to monitor critical infrastructure facilities digitally from the air and quickly locate, inspect important structures during patrols
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Winners announced in two new-approach building competitions
The Solar Decathlon and Lifecycle Building Challenge aim to promote energy independence and better environment through greater reliance on alternative energy and better building design and materials
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Six teams cut in Urban Challenge qualifying round
In qualifying rounds in California, robotic vehicles are tested in self-navigation — no driver, no remote control — through a series of urban challenges; some teams don’t make it
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The long view
Are We Ready for a ‘DeepSeek for Bioweapons’?
Anthropic’s Claude 4 is a warning sign: AI that can help build bioweapons is coming, and could be widely available soon. Steven Adler writes that we need to be prepared for the consequences: “like a freely downloadable ‘DeepSeek for bioweapons,’ available across the internet, loadable to the computer of any amateur scientist who wishes to cause mass harm. With Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4 having finally triggered this level of safety risk, the clock is now ticking.”
A Brief History of Federal Funding for Basic Science
Biomedical science in the United States is at a crossroads. For 75 years, the federal government has partnered with academic institutions, fueling discoveries that have transformed medicine and saved lives. Recent moves by the Trump administration — including funding cuts and proposed changes to how research support is allocated — now threaten this legacy.
Bookshelf: Preserving the U.S. Technological Republic
The United States since its founding has always been a technological republic, one whose place in the world has been made possible and advanced by its capacity for innovation. But our present advantage cannot be taken for granted.
Autonomous Weapon Systems: No Human-in-the-Loop Required, and Other Myths Dispelled
“The United States has a strong policy on autonomy in weapon systems that simultaneously enables their development and deployment and ensures they could be used in an effective manner, meaning the systems work as intended, with the same minimal risk of accidents or errors that all weapon systems have,” Michael Horowitz writes.
Ukraine Drone Strikes on Russian Airbase Reveal Any Country Is Vulnerable to the Same Kind of Attack
Air defense systems are built on the assumption that threats come from above and from beyond national borders. But Ukraine’s coordinated drone strike on 1 June on five airbases deep inside Russian territory exposed what happens when states are attacked from below and from within. In low-level airspace, visibility drops, responsibility fragments, and detection tools lose their edge. Drones arrive unannounced, response times lag, coordination breaks.
Shots to the Dome—Why We Can’t Model US Missile Defense on Israel’s “Iron Dome”
Starting an arms race where the costs are stacked against you at a time when debt-to-GDP is approaching an all-time high seems reckless. All in all, the idea behind Golden Dome is still quite undercooked.