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First batch of swine flu vaccine shipped
Connecticut-based company ships first batch — 100,000 doses — of its swine flu vaccine; Protein Sciences Corporation uses insect cell technology to develop the vaccine
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U Michigan students develop portable device to detect suicide bombers
Wolverines engineering graduate students develop a small, light, cheap, and effective IED and suicide-bomber detector; the detectors are designed to be part of a wireless sensor network that conveys to a base station where suspicious objects are located and who might be carrying them
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Using cloth to protect military vehicles from RPGs
British company shows a newly developed textile which is strong enough to protect battle-field vehicles from RPGs
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GAO unimpressed with new radiation detectors
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommended further testing of next-generation radiation detectors; at more than $800,000 apiece, the new devices cost nearly 300 percent more than the machines in operation
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Hiding buildings from earthquakes
The seismic waves of an earthquake fall into two main groups: body waves that propagate through the Earth, and surface waves that travel only across the surface; invisibility cloaks could be used to make buildings invisible to surface waves
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Trust but verify, II
British and Norwegian scientists ran the first field trials of a device that could solve the problem of reliable verification: a gamma ray detector linked to a hand-held “information barrier”
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Iran tests radar-evading UAV
Commander of the Iranian air force says the service has successfully tested a home-grown, radar-evading UAV; the UAV is intended for both surveillance and bombing missions
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Global Security Challenge's final to be held 13 November
The deadline for submission of entries to the Global Security Challenge open competition is over; now we wait to see the regional winners who will gather in London on 13 November
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BAE promotes intelligence, security start-ups
BAE’s inviting SMEs in the intelligence and security sector to come forward with innovative technologies as part of its Investment in Innovation program
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USAF looks for more discriminating UAVs
The increased use of UAVs in Pakistan has also increased the number of civilians being killed in attacks on insurgents; one of the main reasons is the fact that the least powerful munition they fire is Hellfire missiles, which are intended to puncture the tough armor of tanks; USAF plans to build smaller, even microscopic drones with smaller weapons that can hunt in swarms and engage targets in the close quarters of urban battlefields
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Drug smuggling becomes more sophisticated, II
Drug smugglers now use semi-submersibles which are 60 foot long and 12 feet wide fiberglass boats powered by a diesel engine, with a very low freeboard and a small “conning tower” providing the crew (usually of four) and engine with fresh air, and permitting the crew to navigate the boat
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Eye-tracking device could keep drowsing drivers awake
Swedish company develops an eye-tracking device embedded on a single chip; device may keep drivers awake on long drives
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U.K. government to give up on massive Internet snoop scheme
The Home Office admits that its IMP (Interception Modernization Program) — the cost of which was to be £2 billion over ten years — cannot be realized because the technology does not yet exist
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Israel shows -- and sells -- sophisticated loitering munition system
Israel used the Paris Air Show to display the Harop, a robo-kamikaze device; the defense-suppressing weapon loiters in the air and transmits back video to its control station just like a surveillance drone; if a target is found — typically, an enemy radar —the Harop can then fly down and crash into it with unerring precision, detonating its 50 lb warhead as it does so
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Researchers find ways to slow down deformation of concrete
Concrete is used in practically all forms of construction — buildings, bridges, tunnels, dams; trouble is, it deforms and crumbles over time; MIT researchers discover the reasons for the gradual deformation of concrete, a discovery which will lead to concrete infrastructures capable of lasting hundreds of years rather than tens
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More headlines
The long view
Autonomous Vehicle Technology Vulnerable to Road Object Spoofing and Vanishing Attacks
Researchers have demonstrated the potentially hazardous vulnerabilities associated with the technology called LiDAR, or Light Detection and Ranging, many autonomous vehicles use to navigate streets, roads and highways. The researchers have shown how to use lasers to fool LiDAR into “seeing” objects that are not present and missing those that are – deficiencies that can cause unwarranted and unsafe braking or collisions.
Tantalizing Method to Study Cyberdeterrence
Tantalus is unlike most war games because it is experimental instead of experiential — the immersive game differs by overlapping scientific rigor and quantitative assessment methods with the experimental sciences, and experimental war gaming provides insightful data for real-world cyberattacks.
Prototype Self-Service Screening System Unveiled
TSA and DHS S&T unveiled a prototype checkpoint technology, the self-service screening system, at Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas, NV. The aim is to provide a near self-sufficient passenger screening process while enabling passengers to directly receive on-person alarm information and allow for the passenger self-resolution of those alarms.
Falling Space Debris: How High Is the Risk I'll Get Hit?
An International Space Station battery fell back to Earth and, luckily, splashed down harmlessly in the Atlantic. Should we have worried? Space debris reenters our atmosphere every week.
Testing Cutting-Edge Counter-Drone Technology
Drones have many positive applications, bad actors can use them for nefarious purposes. Two recent field demonstrations brought government, academia, and industry together to evaluate innovative counter-unmanned aircraft systems.
Strengthening the Grid’s ‘Backbone’ with Hydropower
Argonne-led studies investigate how hydropower could help add more clean energy to the grid, how it generates value as grids add more renewable energy, and how liner technology can improve hydropower efficiency.
The Tech Apocalypse Panic is Driven by AI Boosters, Military Tacticians, and Movies
From popular films like a War Games or The Terminator to a U.S. State Department-commissioned report on the security risk of weaponized AI, there has been a tremendous amount of hand wringing and nervousness about how so-called artificial intelligence might end up destroying the world. There is one easy way to avoid a lot of this and prevent a self-inflicted doomsday: don’t give computers the capability to launch devastating weapons.
The Tech Apocalypse Panic is Driven by AI Boosters, Military Tacticians, and Movies
From popular films like a War Games or The Terminator to a U.S. State Department-commissioned report on the security risk of weaponized AI, there has been a tremendous amount of hand wringing and nervousness about how so-called artificial intelligence might end up destroying the world. There is one easy way to avoid a lot of this and prevent a self-inflicted doomsday: don’t give computers the capability to launch devastating weapons.