• This weekend: 32nd annual computing Battle of the Brains

    The 32nd annual collegiate programming contest will take place this weekend in Alberta, Canada; one hundred three-person teams from thirty-three countries have qualified; twenty of the teams represent U.S. colleges

  • Iberdrola Renewables to launch six wind farms off Spanish coast

    Spain is generating more and more of its energy from wind — and Spanish company applies for permits to open six off-shore wind farms which, in the aggregate, will generate 3,000 MW

  • Riding the Next Wave -- WiMAX versus LTE // by Peter Howard

    By 2011, it is estimated that 1.5 billion people will have broadband; which technology will better serve their needs — WiMAX or LTE? WiMAX is already here, and LTE will take time to roll out — but when it does, it will give WiMAX a run for its money; LTE offers spectrum flexibility, significant added capacity, and a platform for delivering premium applications cost effectively

  • Orsus Situator to be deployed at water supplier facilities

    The new approach to critical infrastructure security is “holistic”: Planning, training, positioning information gathering equipment, imposing intelligence on video streams and other information coming in, presenting all information in accessible fashion, offering a menu of responses when an incident occurs; Orsus offers a situation management solution to critical infrastructure operators

  • New nerve gas deactivation method offered

    What to do with thousands of tons of chemical weapon stored in rusting drums on military bases in the United States? Bleach reacts indiscriminately — even explosively — with many chemicals such as propellants, and using alkaline hydrolysis has its own drawbacks; researchers develop a deactivation method based on dealkylating agents

  • Australia, Japan in joint clean-coal project

    The Australian and Japanese government, and several companies join in retrofitting a coal-fired boiler at Callide A power station in Central Queensland with oxy-firing technology which will burn coal in a mixture of oxygen and recirculated flue gases

  • Ballast-free cargo ship design to reduce invasion of non-native species

    As worries about non-native species invading the great Lakes mount, Wolverines researchers develop ballast-free cargo ship design; at least 185 non-native aquatic species have been identified in the Great Lakes, and ballast water is blamed for the introduction of most

  • Private-sector support for telecommuting grows

    Heightened concerns about traffic congestion, air pollution, and gasoline prices — and worries about business continuity — increase the attraction of telecommuting; new CDW report reveals that support for telecommuting grows, but is offset by security concerns

  • Preparing for the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) threat

    One unexpected lesson of the many nuclear tests conducted by the superpowers in the late 1950s and early 1960s was that high-altitude nuclear blasts create far-reaching atmospheric effects that could instantly shut down power grids; as modern life becomes ever-more dependent on electronic gadgets, and as the proliferation of nuclear weapons and missiles continue, fear grows that an adversary will seek to cripple the United States by creating an atmospheric EMP effect

  • Saudis set up special force to protect critical insrastructure

    In February 2006 al Qaeda terrorists tried to blow up the world’s largest oil processing plant at Abqaiq; the Saudi government responded by setting up a 15,000-strong special force to protect oil, gas, and water desalination infrastructure

  • New, more demanding rules for hazmat rail tanker construction

    New safety standard will increase by 500 percent on average the amount of energy the tank car must absorb during a train accident before a catastrophic failure may occur

  • Sugars to be converted directly into gasoline

    Shell, Virent in effort to convert plant sugars directly into gasoline and gasoline blend components; sugars can be sourced from non-food sources such as corn stover, switch grass, wheat straw, and sugarcane pulp, in addition to conventional biofuel feedstock like wheat, corn, and sugarcane

  • Sunday protest against rail tunnel through Italian Alps

    Protesters in the thousands continue to oppose a super-fast rail link between Turin and Lyon; plan calls for digging a new tunnel through the Italian Alps

  • Nottingham to test greener buses

    The City of Nottingham bought three ethanol-powered buses from Swedish company Scania for an 18 month trial; the waste-based ethanol will also come from Sweden, and will be tested against British-made sugar-based ethanol

  • Southern California utility to push solar power

    Southern California Edison, largest utility in California, will place 250 MW of photovoltaic generators on 65 million square feet of roofs of Southern California commercial buildings