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British test metal detecting gloves
$200 robogloves permit clandestine detection; when metal is found, the Kevlar device begins to vibrate
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Chesapeake Innovation Center struggles
Interim director resigns as CIC confronts looming budget problems; calls mount to take the center under private management; new leadership reaches out to Northrop Grumman and others; loss of NSA contract a major blow
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Air Force closes all seven battle labs
With budget pressures mounting, Air Force can no longer afford the investment; Air Force Space Battlelab, Command and Control Battlelab, and Air Warfare Battlelab among those receiving the axe
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Army breaks ground on New Jersey R&D park
Picatinny Arsenal to be transformed into a public-private research and development park; one million square feet of office space planned, including 100,000 for high security work; planners look for companies working on technology with both commercial and military applications
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Lockheed bullish on rise in defense and homeland security spending
The world’s largest defense contractor is confident Congress will respond to an “uncertain security market” by maintaining a robust defense budget, and the company’s CEO points to his company’s increased focus on homeland security and law enforcement work in addition to its core aircraft, ship, and missiles business as a source of increasing revenue
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U.S. military testing heat-generating non-leahtal weapon
Some non-lethal weapons are already in use 9for example, taser guns and rubber bullets), while others are still being debating (for example, troop-blinding laser weapons); the U.S. military is testing another non-lethal system: A beam which engulfs enemy sodiers wiht a 130-degree heat blast
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Guidelines released for DARPA's Urban Challenge
Track B teams required video submissions and site visits in order to continue in DARPA search for autonomous ground vehicle
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DHS to push for seamless emergency communication in top 75 U.S. cities
A DHS survey released this week gives low grades to most U.S. urban centers for emergency communication; DHS says it aims to achieve major imporvements in emergency interoprability by 2009
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Mantech in $159 million mine-clearing contract
Land mines is the curse that keeps on killing and maiming the innocent long after wars end; Mantech receive large contract to help clear mines in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait
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Direct brain control of umanoid robot demonstrated
In a move with implications for first responders and military alike, researchers show that robots may be controlled by their “master’s” human brain waves
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Sandia develops an imporved sensor network
The future — well, a part of it at least — belongs to sensor networks; rsearchers at Sandia Natioal Lab have developed the unattended ground sensor (UGS), and system whcih combines off-the-shelf components with in-house developed elements to create a better andre useful network; investors and manufacturers may want to make the lab an offer for the technology
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Textron completes acquisition of Overwatch Systems
A subsidiary of a mutli-industry heavy-weight Textron acquires a New Jersey company specializing in gathering and presenting actionable intelligence; acqusition will strengthen Textron’s already-strong line of offerings
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Industry questions U.S. RFID technology choice for new passport
Smart Card Alliance urges U.S. to reconsider selection of “vicinity” over “proximity” RFID technology for proposed passport card
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Researchers show that hydrogen can form multicenter bonds
Hydrogen is the simplest of elements, typically forming a single bond to just one other atom; it is thus big news that hydrogen can form multicenter bonds, in which one hydrogen atom simultaneously bonds to as many as four or six other atoms
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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
By Barry Pavel et al.
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
By David Montgomery
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
By John Domol
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
By Zach Winn
The simulations matched results from an underground lab experiment in Switzerland, suggesting modeling could be used to validate the safety of nuclear disposal sites.