• Using cold plasma to fight fires

    Traditional fire-suppression technologies focus largely on disrupting the chemical reactions involved in combustion; from a physics perspective, however, flames are cold plasmas; DARPA, the Pentagon’s research arm, theorized that by using physics techniques rather than combustion chemistry, it might be possible to manipulate and extinguish flames

  • FDNY conducts live fire tests to test improvements in fire department tactics

    In the name of science, but with aim of saving lives, preventing injuries, and reducing property losses, members of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) spent much of the first two weeks in July setting fire to twenty abandoned townhouses on Governors Island, about a kilometer from the southern tip of Manhattan

  • Small, local energy technologies to help sustain vital services during blackouts

    Researchers suggest that rethinking the solution to sustaining electric power — namely, starting small — could keep critical services going, even when the high-voltage grid is crippled; the U.S. military is already taking steps to protect its power supplies in the event of a massive grid failure by adopting small, local energy technologies, and California governor Jerry Brown recently announced that he wants 12,000 megawatts of such power supplies in his state

  • ONR new universal gateway improves network data sharing on Navy ships

    On any Navy destroyer, cruiser, or carrier today, there are two networks: one for combat systems (weapons and sensors) and one for command and control, or C2, which also encompasses intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; there are some thirty interconnections between the two networks, making it difficult to integrate data into a real-time common operating picture, as well as expensive to maintain; the Office of Naval Research’s Universal Gateway, which collapses the 30 connections into a single portal

  • Voice recognition capabilities at the FBI -- from the 1960s to the present

    Chris Archer, the online content editor at IDGA (the Institute for Defense & Government Advancement), talked with Hirotaka Nakasone, a senior scientist in the FBI’s Voice Recognition Program; Nakasone examines the use and effectiveness of current speaker authentication technologies at the FBI; highlights the various challenges which are unique to voice recognition, and discusses what plans are in place for capturing voice recordings in line with the FBI’s Next Generation Identification (NGI project)

  • ONR sensor and software suite tracks, hunts down more than 600 suspect boats

    A new sensor and software suite sponsored by the Office of Naval Research recently returned from West Africa after helping partner nations track and identify target vessels of interest as part of an international maritime security operation

  • Training the nuclear forensics experts of the future

    Ten percent of the U.S. experts in nuclear and radiochemistry are at or nearing retirement age, according to a recent report from the National Academies of Science; meanwhile, not enough students are being trained to take their places; undergraduate summer programs in nuclear forensics and nuclear chemistry aim to replenish the ranks

  • Study finds stray-bullet shootings frequently harm women and children

    Most people killed or wounded in stray-bullet shootings were unaware of events leading to the gunfire that caused their injuries, and nearly one-third of the victims were children and nearly half were female, according to a new nationwide study

  • Novel network model to help in cyberwarfare, conservation, and disease prevention

    Computer networks are the battlefields in cyberwarfare, as exemplified by the U.S. recent use of computer viruses to attack Iran’s nuclear program; researchers develop a computer model which could help military strategists devise the most damaging cyber attacks as well as guard America’s critical infrastructure

  • California passes “Anti-Arizona” immigration measure

    The California State Senate last Thursday passed Assembly Bill 1081 — some call it the Anti-Arizona law —  under which local police officers would be limited to refer only those individuals convicted of serious felonies to immigration agencies; police officers would no longer have authority to detain lower-level offenders on their undocumented status

  • DARPA invests in hypersonic technologies

    Stealth technology offered the U.S. military many advantages, but that strategic advantage is threatened as other nations’ abilities in stealth and counter-stealth improve; restoring that battle space advantage requires advanced speed, reach, and range; DARPA says that hypersonic technologies have the potential to provide the dominance once afforded by stealth to support a range of varied future national security missions

  • Many criminals who used guns in a crime were not legally barred from possessing firearms

    Sixty percent of persons incarcerated for gun crimes in the thirteen U.S. states with the most lax standards for legal firearm ownership were not legally prohibited from possessing firearms when they committed the crime that led to their incarceration

  • TeleCommunication Systems acquires next-generation 9-1-1 technology specialist microDATA GIS

    The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) predicts that state and local governments will spend up to $1.2 billion over the next ten years for NG9-1-1 upgrades, with an additional $1.5 billion spent on recurring connectivity, hosting, and operations and maintenance; TeleCommunication Systems acquires microDATA GIS, a next-generation 9-1-1 technology specialist

  • ACLU-sponsored app keeps police accountable

    A new app from the ACLU of New Jersey allows people securely and discreetly to record and store interactions with police, as well as provide legal information about citizens’ rights when interacting with the police

  • New Facebook app detects pedophiles, criminals

    Researchers have developed a new privacy solution for Facebook; the Social Privacy Protector (SPP), developed by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) undergraduate students, can help parents adjust their children’s profiles in one click, prevent criminals from gathering valuable personal information, and keep teens safe from pedophiles