• Killing malaria bugs dead with laser

    Mosquito-killing laser demonstrated; if bed nets are the low-tech solution to combat the deadly malaria — caused by a parasite transmitted when certain mosquitoes bite people — the laser is a high-tech one; the laser detection is so precise, it can specify the species, and even the gender, of the mosquito being targeted

  • New fiber nanogenerators could lead to electric clothing

    UC Berkeley researchers have created energy-scavenging nanofibers that could one day be woven into clothing and textiles; these nano-sized generators have “piezoelectric” properties that allow them to convert into electricity the energy created through mechanical stress, stretches, and twists

  • New technologies unveiled to protect U.K. 75 million mobile phone users from crime

    U.K. e-commerce, or contatcless, mobile transactions, will account for £151 billion by 2013. the U.K. government’s Design Council unveils three solutions aiming to make mobile phones – and, hence, e-commerce – safer

  • Oak Ridge develops powerful intrusion detection systems

    The attack analysis program uses machine learning to increase effectiveness; ORCA effectively sits on top of off-the-shelf intrusion detection systems, and its correlation engine processes information and learns as cyberevents arrive; the correlation engine supplements or replaces the preset rules used by most intrusion detection systems to detect attacks or other malicious events

  • Revolutionary water treatment system may make coping with disaster easier

    Researchers develop a revolutionary waste-water treatment device which uses little energy, is transportable, scalable, simple to set-up, simple to operate, comes on-line in record time, and can be monitored remotely; new system cleans influent wastewater within twenty-four hours after set-up to discharge levels that exceed the standards established by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for municipal wastewater

  • Aussie scientists make artificial silk

    Scientists have for decades tried to find a way artificially to produce insect silk; Aussie scientists report they have found a method to do so; the tough, lightweight textiles could be used in personal protection equipment such as bulletproof vests and helmets, and in many other applications

  • DARPA looking to edit soldiers’ DNA to boost performance

    DARPA has budgeted $7.5 million in hopes of “increas[ing] by several decades the speed with which we sequence, analyze and functionally edit cellular genomes”; the agency is also looking for a cybersecurity system which will not rely on technicians to patch security holes once they are found, but will instead have the instincts to go it alone

  • Obama keeps promise to boost science

    President Obama stressed in his State of the Union address on 27 January that he wanted to freeze “discretionary” government spending for the next three years to rein in the sprawling federal budget deficit – but investment in science not only escapes this freeze: in his 2011 budget proposal, obama is seeking $61.6 billion for research — 5.6 per cent more than this year’s agreed budget

  • Next-generation gear: Digital revolvers, personal rubber bullets, triple-tasers

    The Shooting Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show in Las Vegas offers many futuristic gadgets for law enforcement and security-minded citizens; Armatix shows a hand gun with a wireless safety residing in a wrist watch: if you do not wear the wrist watch, the gun will not operate; Burris has built one of the most sophisticated rifle scopes ever seen: it has a laser rangefinder that can automatically adjust your sights to compensate for the fall of each bullet over long distances; there is much more

  • Researchers propose a new way to scan cargo containers

    In 2007 the U.S. government set itself the goal of screening all aviation cargo loaded onto passenger planes and all maritime cargo entering the country for both explosives and nuclear materials; this is an ambitious goal: there are more than ten millions containers entering the United States every year through sea ports and land border crossings, and there are more than 28,000 commercial flights

  • Researchers work to help secure the U.S. power grid

    The U.S. Trustworthy Cyber Infrastructure for the Power Grid (TCIPG) team explores the Smarter Grid — secure and reliable technology involved in the underpinnings of the U.S. electrical power infrastructure; as power grids are upgraded and connected to online systems to increase efficiency, they become vulnerable to malicious attacks and hackers; the TCIPG team will develop cyber security tools and technologies to ensure that power supplies are not disrupted

  • Digital technology and insects to replace cadaver-sniffing dogs

    Researchers are looking for an alternative to the cadaver-sniffing dog; researchers are working on training insects to locate and identify cadavers; other researchers are working on a digital sniffer

  • Terahertz scanners may detect what whole-body scanners miss

    A typical full-body scanner works by bouncing X-rays off an individual’s skin to produce an outline image of the person’s body; these images must then be studied by an operator who makes the call whether there is a potential explosive present or not; the operator’s subjective view makes the system more fallible; terahertz technology works by sweeping a terahertz beam across a person and then using sensors to detect the radiation that reflects back; explosives and benign substances such as candy have a different terahertz spectrum, or fingerprint, that can be classified by TeraView software

  • Battling against biological threats with ultrasonics

    A tweezers-like device uses ultrasonics to detect bioterror agents; when a small sample such as a powdery anthrax mix is placed inside the device, an array of piezoelectric transducers would generate an ultrasonic force field onto the sample; security officials would be able to detect anthrax from innocuous powders in the mix through differences in compressibility and density

  • Quake-proofing U.S. buildings

    An Indian civil engineer has invented a sleeved column braces which help buildings withstand earthquakes; the sturdy brace apparatus surrounds a core of high-performance steel, but is spaced from the sides of the core; the sleeve thus absorbs and dissipates energy, but does not buckle under pressure; several large buildings in California, built in the last few years, have adopted the technology