• NYPD looking for technology to prevent friendly fire

    The recent accidental shooting of a plain clothes policeman by fellow officers has prompted NYPD to seek technology to prevent friendly fire accidents; the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will help

  • U.K. hospitals missing true scope of swine flu infection

    An expert says the extent of swine flu infection in the United Kingdom is being underestimated because hospitals are failing to test patients with respiratory illnesses for the virus

  • San Diego uses biometrics to identify and remove criminal aliens

    San Diego County Sheriff’s Department deputies are the first law enforcement unit in California to use DHS Secure Community program to receive biometric-based immigration information

  • Dutch researchers develop new virus detector

    A prototype of a new system can detect within minutes if an individual is infected with a virus; the system carry out measurements many times faster than standard techniques, and it is also portable

  • U.S. unprepared for severe solar storms

    Mankind’s vulnerability to disruptions caused by severe solar storms has increased as a result of the increasing dependence of human societies on technology and electricity; a storm on the scale of the 1859 Carrington Event could damage the U.S. electrical grid to such an extent that vast regions of the country could be without power for weeks, perhaps months.

  • Hardin, Montana, wants to take in Guantanamo prisoners

    Hardin, Montana (pop. 4,300) had a problem: it invested $27 million in a 464-bed modern prison facility which is standing empty; the city council offered to use it to house Guantanamo prisoners; Montana’s congressional delegation objects

  • Flu vaccine contracts worth $46.7 million awarded

    Two companies awarded $46.7 million to supply influenza vaccine to the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and federal civilian agencies

  • The first true flying car: DARPA's Transformer TX

    DARPA, in its FY 2010 budget request, has asked for $2 million to develop the Transformer TX; the list of requirement makes for a true flying car: it is quiet; it hovers; it carries up to four people and can run for up to two hours on one tank of fuel; it travels on roads; and can be operated “by a typical soldier”; it should also be able to run on an autopilot if need be

  • Scientists unsure how Tasers work

    There is a growing interest in nonlethal weapon, and Taser stun devices are among the most heavily used — and researched — nonlethal systems; scientists are still unsure how, exactly, these devices achieve their stunning effect

  • Seismographs accurately detected North Korea's nuclear test

    In 1998 the U.S. Senate rejected the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) partly owing to fears that countries could cheat by claiming that small covert weapons tests were earthquakes; the quick and accurate detection of the North Korean test shows that the currently deployed system of sensors works

  • Court: use of GPS to track criminals requires warrant

    The New York State’s supreme court ruled that the police cannot use GPS to track a criminal suspect without a warrant; majority decision said: “the use of these powerful devices presents a significant and, to our minds, unacceptable risk of abuse”

  • DHS develops medical scanner-at-a-distance device

    The first task of first responders arriving on a scene of a disaster is quickly and accurately to sort the living casualties by priority order for medical care; new device assesses — from a distance — the medical condition of those injured in the disaster; it does so by using laser doppler vibrometry and a camera to measure pulse, body temperature, and muscle movements such as breathing

  • Mobile WiMax to be rolled out in Atlanta in June

    Clearwire says it will roll out mobile WiMax in Atlanta next month, with other cities to follow

  • IEEE ICRA 2009 showcased advances in robotics

    ICRA 2009, the world’s premier robotics event, was held in Japan last week; researchers demonstrated the latest in robotics — from tree-climbing robots to robots than can create ice sculptures on their own

  • U.S. schools take steps toward greater safety -- but problems remain

    CDW-G 2009 School Safety Index finds that K-12 districts are taking steps to improve network and building security, but that increased breaches caused an overall decline in schools’ physical and cyber security scores