• Straw power planned

    With more and more companies turning to biofuels as an alternative to fossil fuels, a debate has erupted over the food-energy trade-off involved; a Welsh company bypasses this debate by planning to generate energy from straw

  • U.K. government split over mobile threat

    U.K. agencies divided over the scope and imminence of wireless systems which control the nation’s critical infrastructure

  • Herbicide-tolerant crops can improve water quality

    One of the major sources of water contamination is herbicide pollution; scientists find that using herbicide-tolerant crops — and replacing some of the residual herbicides with the contact herbicides —significantly reduces water pollution

  • DEET found in Chicago drinking water

    Low levels of bug repellent found in Chicago drinking water; the city water authorities say the amounts are too small to worry about, but a Duke University expert says finding raises a red flag

  • Earthquake in Illinois could portend an emerging threat

    Earthquakes in the Midwest section of the United States were mostly the result of the New Madrid Fault in Missouri’s bootheel; seismologists now worry that the 18 April, 5.2 Richter earthquake which shook the Midwest originated in the Wabash Valley Fault — meaning that another fault is becoming active

  • Desalination can boost U.S. water supplies

    More than 97 percent of the Earth’s water — seawater and brackish groundwater — is too salty to use for drinking water or agriculture; new report says that desalination would be a good way to meet water shortages in the United States, but that the environmental impact of large-scale desalination campaign should be carefully studied

  • Technological breakthrough in the fight to cut greenhouse gases

    New, efficient method found to convert waste carbon dioxide (CO2) into chemical compounds known as cyclic carbonates; researchers estimate that the technology has the potential to use up to 48 million tons of waste CO2 per year, reducing the U.K. emissions by about four percent

  • Modernizing the U.S. electrical grid

    The U.S. Department of Energy will invest $50 million in demonstration project aiming to improve efficiency in the U.S. electricity grid

  • The Harris RF-1033M

    Land Mobile Radio for direct, secure multi-agency communications across multiple frequency bands

  • What Is Keeping Your COO Awake at Night?

    An HSDW conversation on Cybersecurity with Tim Kelleher, vice president of enterprise security, Unisys

  • 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

  • Safeguarding Infrastructure // by Christopher Doyle

    The key to protecting national infrastructure and facilitating lifesaving responses in the event of an incident is preparedness; the Infrastructure and Geophysical Division (IGD) of the Science & Technology (S&T) Directorate at DHS is working to find methods and technologies to improve the ability to protect buildings, facilities, and other kinds of physical structures

  • SyTech Corporation and communication interoperability, I

    The lack of communication interoperability among first response, rescue teams, and law enforcement during the 9/11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina was only the most dramatic and poignant demonstration of a persistent and debilitating flaw in U.S. agencies’ planning for disaster — and performing during disaster; communication interoperability is essential not only in disasters, but for routine, every-day operations of law enforcement; SyTech’s comprehensive approach to interoperability offers a solution

  • The WiMax interoperability solution // By Daniel Zubairi, CISSP

    Conversation with Mark Adams, chief architect of mobility at Northrop Grumman, on using WiMax for public safety and civil defense