• Information technology to create more efficient power grid

    Creating a smarter grid through information technology could save $80 billion over 20 years nationally by offsetting costs of building new electric infrastructure; 300 Pacific Northwest volunteers take part in smart-appliance trial

  • Day of ultra-clean engine nears

    One of the major obstacles facing the development of ultra-clean car engines is the need for permanent-magnet electric motors to operate well at temperatures up to 200 degrees Celsius; Iowa researchers offer a way to create such magnets

  • Tiny sensors detect toxic gasses

    MIT researchers developed a small detector the size of a match box which will detect minute quantities of hazardous gases, including toxic industrial chemicals and chemical warfare agents, much more quickly than current devices

  • Helmet sensors measure munition impact

    Worried about ever-more-powerful IEDs, the Army is providing soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division with helmets equipped with sensors which measure the energy wave generated by an “event” and the acceleration or jolt that follows

  • FIRST LEGO League Ohio State championship tournament

    FIRST LEGO will hold its annual robotic tournament this weekend on the campus of Ohio’s Wright State University; 48 teams of 9-14 year-olds will compete on research projects, teamwork, robot design, robot programming, and robot performance

  • Breakthrough: Acoustic cloak theoretically possible

    Invisibility cloak — deflecting microwaves around a cloaked object and restoring them on the other side, as if they had passed through empty space — has already been demonstrated; Duke researcher now shows that an acoustic cloak is theoretically feasible: Sound waves would travel seamlessly around the cloaked object and emerge on the other side without distortion; submarines could be hidden from sonar

  • DARPA selects Goodrich for next-generation night vision technology

    Company to develop next-generation night vision sensor technology for helmet-mounted and micro vehicle applications based on its indium gallium arsenide-night vision (InGaAs-NV) SWIR sensors

  • State Department argues vicinity RFID technology would bolster border security

    State will use vicinity RFID technology in new passport cards; technology allows cards to be read from about twenty feet; privacy advocates and champions of alternative technologies charge the decision poses serious risks to privacy

  • Accreditation program for labs which test body armor

    In the last three decades, the lives of more than 3,000 officers were saved by body armor; many, though, lost their lives or were injured when they were wearing ineffective body armor; NIST, Justice create program for accrediting labs which test and certify body armor

  • Consumer security market grows

    The fastest growing segment within the $155 billion consumer electronics industry is consumer security; heightened worries about terrorism, natural disasters, and sophisticated criminals drive this growth, and the growth, in turn, leads many government- and corporate-security companies to consider entering this market

  • Preventing bicycle theft -- and public safety

    A graduate engineering student at Leeds University develops a clever video analytic tool to help cut down the number of bicycles being stolen in the U.K. every year (currently, 500,000 bicycles); tool can also be used for other public safety missions

  • Superconductivity can occur without phonons

    Breakthrough: Superconductivity is a phenomenon by which materials conduct electricity without resistance, usually at extremely cold temperatures; researchers posit that in materials that are on the verge of exhibiting magnetic order, electron attraction leading to superconductivity can occur without phonons

  • New London center to develop stronger ceramic materials

    Imperial College London launches Structural Ceramic Center; center will research and develop dramatically stronger and more durable structural ceramics made of inorganic materials such as oxides, carbides, and nitrides; new materials will be used in vehicle and body armor, reusable space craft, and pebble beds in nuclear reactors

  • Lobster's eyes inspire hand-held detection device

    The crustacean’s impressive ability to see through dark, cloudy, deep sea water is guiding scientists in developing a ray that could be used by border agents, airport screeners, and the Coast Guard

  • iRobot wins $286 million Army robot contract

    iRobot signs contract to supply the U.S. Army with 3,000 of the company’s PackBot military robot platform; contract marks Army’s intention of increasing role and missions of robots in battle