• OMB wants privacy review details in FISMA reports

    U.S. government agencies will have to provide more details about the privacy reviews they conduct as part of annual reporting in compliance with FISMA

  • U.S. wind power generation expands 45% in 2007

    Rapid increase in U.S. wind power generation capacity sees 45 percent growth in 2007, injecting $9 billion into U.S. economy; growth of wind power accounts for 30 percent of the entire new power-producing capacity added nationally in 2007

  • SPARQL is a new, format-independent query technology

    Many successful query languages exist, including standards such as SQL and XQuery, but they were primarily designed for queries limited to a single product, format, type of information, or local data store; SPARQL is the key standard for opening up data on the Semantic Web, and the goal of the Semantic Web is to enable people to share, merge, and reuse data globally

  • Animation shows how cities will cope with devastating earthquakes

    How do we know what damage will be sustained by a city located in an earthquake-prone region? Purdue University researchers have an ambitious idea: Create a mini satellite city to cope with the aftermath of such a catastrophe; Boilermakers have created a 3D fly-through animation showing what the city would look like

  • CIA: Utilities threatened by cyber attacks

    CIA says U.S. utilities are at risk for cyber attack; security experts said the CIA’s acknowledgment of the problem indicates how seriously they are taking it, as CIA policy had been not to disclose such things

  • Idaho geothermal power plant goes online

    U.S. Geothermal launches first geothermal power plant in Idaho; plant uses innovative binary cycle technology in which the geothermal fluid is pumped through a heat exchanger to vaporize isopentane, an organic compound that vaporizes at lower temperatures than water

  • New consortium to develop tiny sensors to boost energy production

    The University of Texas at Austin announces the Advanced Energy Consortium (AEC), a multimillion-dollar research consortium dedicated to the development of micro and nanotechnology applications to increase oil and gas production

  • Swiss move on quantum cryptography

    Ensuring effective data security is the next challenge for global data networks; quantum cryptography offers such effective security; the Swiss national election in October 2007 provided first real-life test of the technology, and Swiss now move to implement it in security-sensitive sectors of the economy

  • New device helps radiation mapping in nuclear power plants

    U.K. company develops radiation-mapping device which allows repairs to be carried out in small contaminated areas of nuclear power plants; device is based on technology used for radiation therapy delivery

  • Pac-Man-like molecule chews up uranium contamination

    Uranium leaches into groundwater from natural deposits of its ore, depleted uranium munitions, nuclear facilities, and the detritus of uranium mining; removing uranium from groundwater is very difficult: Not only does uranium bind very strongly to oxygen — it is also soluble, making dissolved uranium virtually impossible to remove; British scientists find an innovative solution

  • As nuclear power spreads, so do worries about safety

    Of the more than 100 nuclear reactors now being built, planned, or on order, about half are in China, India, and other developing nations; China has 11 nuclear plants and plans to bring more than 30 others on line by 2020; MIT report says China may need to add as many as 200 reactors by 2050; imagine China bringing to nuclear matters the same rigor and corruption-free approach it brings to inspection of food, children toys, and medicines

  • GAO: More federal efforts needed to thwart threats to oil tankers

    GAO publishes a detailed report on terrorist threats to tankers carrying crude oil, liquefied gases, and refined products to the U.S.; these threats pose a major challenge, since the U.S. imports 55 percent of the nation’s crude oil supply

  • Hand-held near-infrared chemical detector developed

    Welsh company ZiNIR develops a hand-held near-infrared detector which can identify the chemical content of a substance within a few seconds on a “point, click, read” basis; company sees big opportunity in U.S. security market

  • Manchester University leads SPRIng project

    University to develop new tools for assessing the sustainability of nuclear power; among the tools to be developed: Methodology and decision-support system for assessing the sustainability of nuclear power and considering energy supply and demand

  • First commercial wave farm operates in Portugal

    Scottish company Pelamis has been operating the world’s first commercial wave energy farm, located off the coast line of Portugal, for a year now