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New grants to create fabrics which render toxic chemicals harmless
New fabrics made of functional nanofibers would decompose toxic industrial chemicals into harmless byproducts; potential applications include safety gear for soldiers and first responders —and filtration systems for buildings and vehicles
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Fighting crime in Mexico, gadget at a time
Security companies are flocking to Mexico’s capital to sell some high-tech peace of mind
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Robotic suit could usher in super soldier - and super first responder -- era
“Exoskeleton” suit senses every movement the wearer makes and almost instantly amplifying it; suit multiplies the strength and endurance of the wearer by as many as twenty times; in tests, people who normally press 200 pounds found themselves pressing 500 pounds
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Detailed studies of U.S. disaster preparedness offer recommendations
Critical care panel tackles disaster preparation, surge capacity, and health care rationing; some recommendations require largely greater budgets; other pose profound ethical and moral questions
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Doctors develop a list of those allowed to die in a catastrophe
Physicians, government agencies draft a grimly specific list of recommendations for which patients would be treated - and which would not — during a pandemic
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U.S. hospitals could not handle terror attack
Inquiry into the disaster preparedness of hospitals in several major U.S. cities conclude that they are — and will be — incapable to handle even a modest terrorist attack in those cities; one reason for for the lack of hospitals’ capacity: the Bush administration’s cuts in Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals overwhelm emergency rooms with patients suffering from routine problems, leaving no capacity to absorb and treat disaster victims
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IBM joins Next Generation Identification (NGI) system team
NGI, the FBI’s new multi-modal, state-of-the-art biometrics system to be used by state, local, and federal authorities, will store fingerprints, palm prints, iris, and facial recognition information; it will accommodate other biometric modalities as they mature
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Secret wiretap warrants double since 9/11
A Justice Department report shows FISA warrants for counterterrorism, espionage cases up
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Malicious hardware may be next hacker tool
Next threat on the computer security front: Malicious hardware; malicious hardware is more problematic because it is more difficult to detect; China is already using an early, and simple, version of malicious hardware in its massive military and industrial espionage campaign against Western countries and companies
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The Harris RF-1033M
Land Mobile Radio for direct, secure multi-agency communications across multiple frequency bands
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BAE Systems and communication interoperability
BAE’s First InterComm device, also called the Vehicle Communications Assembly (VCA), is small enough (8.625” x 8.625” x 2.5”) to be easily mounted inside first responder vehicles; once installed, the VCA relies on vehicle power
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Using emergency alerting systems to protect the U.S. critical infrastructure // by Simon Berman
Learning from the experiences of the U.S. Department of Defense
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Robots in search-and-rescure competition
A robot competition takes place in Germany this week; the robots compete with each other in how well they traverse, autonomously and without any input from handlers, through a maze resembling the aftermath of a natural disaster; robots sniff out toy dolls that either emit CO2, give off heat, make noise, or move
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Stolen military items available for sale online
GAO investigators buy dozens of prohibited military items on eBay and Craigslist; some of the time would be of direct help to terrorists and insurgents
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Government admits accidents at Plum Island biolab
The biolab on Plum Island, off the tip of Long Island, is the only lab allowed to do research on the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease; DHS officials admit that since 1978 here have been several accidental releases of the virus into cattle in holding pens
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The long view
Why Ukraine’s AI Drones Aren’t a Breakthrough Yet
Machine vision, a form of AI, allows drones to identify and strike targets autonomously. The drones can’t be jammed, and they don’t need continuous monitoring by operators. Despite early hopes, the technology has not yet become a game-changing feature of Ukraine’s battlefield drones. But its time will come.