• Robotic platform helps soldiers carry heavy gear

    Israel Aerospace Industries unveils robotic platform designed for ground forces; the platform, carrying up to 200kg of gear, follows the lead soldier from a distance; the soldiers control the platform by using simple commands, including “stop,” “fetch,” and “heel”

  • New material makes buildings more fire resistant

    New material, called “liquid granite,” is fire resistant to temperatures in excess of 1,100oC; it reduces the fire risk in buildings because, unlike concrete, it does not explode at high temperatures

  • New device to "smell" human fear

    City University London’s researchers launch a project aims to develop two sensor systems that can detect the unique chemical signature of the fear pheromone, assessing the stress of an individual and interpreting it in security-critical contexts

  • Humanoid robots to help people in hazardous environments

    Current calculations required for robots’ handling objects and avoiding collisions are based on movements in the XYZ coordinates, and are sensitive to any minor deformations in the environment, such as a flexible object that would cause the calculations to be invalid; researchers offer a new way to govern robots’ movement

  • Fingerprint technology beats world’s toughest tests

    Among the fingerprints most difficult to identify are those of brick-layers, but a new technique developed by University of Warwick researchers did so successfully; the secret: the University of Warwick researchers consider the entire detailed pattern of each print and transform the topological pattern into a standard co-ordinate system

  • Israeli company shows unmanned smart-missile pack

    A large box contains several vertically launched missiles and its own communications and power; it is generally light enough to be driven about by a Humvee or similar, parachuted down from a transport plane, dropped off by helicopter, tied down on the deck of a ship or barge; the missiles are launched by remote control

  • A new Amsterdam neighborhood floats on a lake

    The Dutch experiment with a new concept for addressing over-crowding, flooding, and rising sea-level problems: floating neighborhoods

  • New method takes 0.2 second to test for explosive liquids

    German scientists develop a novel nanoelectronic device which uses electromagnetic radiation to identify explosive liquids, or liquid components for the fabrication of explosives, in usual plastic bottles almost instantly

  • Mitchell Zakin revived the chemistry discipline at DARPA

    Mitch Zakin —who says, “I joined DARPA because it is unfettered by conventional wisdom” — will leave the agency in 2010; he has been working on developing “the infochemistry project,” which combines the powers of chemistry and information technology

  • DARPA seeking to improve bio-threat detectors

    The agency is requesting proposals for a device that would enable faster, more accurate detection of a broad range of biological agents; DARPA hopes to create a biosensor that would identify viral and bacterial threats, and do so using a natural first-line of defense: human antibodies

  • Landslide detector to be developed

    Researchers are working in developing an early-warning acoustic sensor for the detection of landslides; current devices available for the early detection of slope failures are costly and technically limited

  • Carbon fibers improve blast, impact resistance of conventional reinforced concrete

    Researchers find that adding longer carbon fibers to conventional reinforced concrete significantly improves a structure’s ability to withstand blasts, hurricanes, and other natural disasters

  • Robust hierarchical metropolitan quantum cryptography network

    The security of a majority of classical cryptography is based on the complexity of the cipher algorithms and the development of distributed computing and specific hacking chips; this may no longer be sufficient, as quantum computing has become a serious threat to classical cryptography; the solution: quantum encryption

  • The personal spy: the smartphone in your pocket may be spying on you, II

    The advances in smartphone technology could well be exploited in much the same way that e-mail and the Internet can be used to “phish” for personal information such as bank details

  • Unusual-looking truck to protect U.K. soldiers

    The U.K. armed forces may be better equipped to cope with IEDs threats in the future, not least through a a truck with an unusual V-shaped hull and a design philosophy that takes protecting the crew as its starting point