• Infrared Thermal Detection System is a fast, effective fever screening tool during pandemics

    In the age of globalization, infectious diseases can rapidly spread worldwide and infect many populations; a technology which would allow healthcare professionals quickly to screen large numbers of patients with speed and accuracy and implement relevant measures to prevent further disease transmission would be very helpful; University of Nebraska researchers offer such a technology

  • Top 10 crime-fighting technologies, I

    Today’s criminals avail themselves of the latest technological innovations in order to stay one step ahead of the law; fortunately, technological advances help law enforcement balance the criminals’ arsenals and keep societies safer than otherwise would be the case

  • Better explosives detection for soldiers, first responders in the field

    From a chemical viewpoint, developing a detector for nitroaromatic compounds such as TNT is difficult because such compounds have a low vapor pressure, meaning their concentration in air at room temperature is around six parts per billion; MIT researchers develop cantilever sensors which use functional coatings to transduce detection of chemicals into a signal; the coating, usually a polymer, swells up when it reacts with the target analyte and deflects the cantilever

  • Israel's top 10 airport security technologies, II

    No-one understands security as the Israelis do, and this is why some of the world’s best new innovative airport security technologies are being developed in Israel; since the foiled Christmas Day attempt on a Detroit-bound plane, airport authorities around the world are in a race to find novel solutions to fight terror, and the strategies and technical tactics Israel has adopted feature high on their lists

  • iPhone app saves lives

    A new iPhone app guides users as to what to do when resuscitating critically ill patients in cardiac arrest or near cardiac arrest; depending on the age and condition of the patient, the user follows certain prompts to remind them of what to do

  • U.K. uses Hurt Locker robots to lure bright graduates from banking to defense

    The U.K. defense experts believe too many graduates are being diverted into lucrative jobs in finance when they could be engineers or techies, helping the U.K. defense effort; the Ministry of Defense staged an event starring bomb-disposal and mine-clearing robots from the movie ‘The Hurt Locker” to highlight the exciting technology being used in defense

  • Israel's top 10 airport security technologies, I

    No-one understands security as the Israelis do, and this is why some of the world’s best new innovative airport security technologies are being developed in Israel; since the foiled Christmas Day attempt on a Detroit-bound plane, airport authorities around the world are in a race to find novel solutions to fight terror, and the strategies and technical tactics Israel has adopted feature high on their lists

  • U.S. Congress anxious about shortages of rare earth materials

    Rare earth materials are key to advanced technology — they are used in devices ranging from wind turbines to cell phones; trouble is, almost all of these materials come from China; Congress is worried that one day they could be subject to tight export controls by that country’s government

  • DHS moving forward on cell-all smartphone chemical detection technology

    DHS wants to turn smartphones into chemical sensors; owners of smartphones would volunteer to have tiny chemical sensors embedded in their devices; millions of American could thus become roving chemical sensing nodes to alert authorities of terrorist — or accidental — chemical toxin release

  • Software turns laptops, PCs into earthquake early-warning system

    Harnessing the power of accelerometers — tiny devices that detect movement, allowing, for example, iPhones to flip from vertical to horizontal and Wii devices to function as tennis rackets — and embedding them in laptops and PCs would create a local, regional, or even global network of “quake catchers” who would use their computers to map tremors

  • U.K. Home Offices praises University of Reading CCTV research

    The Computational Vision Group at the University of Reading has developed computer systems which emulate human vision and is currently working on improving the effectiveness of CCTV for safety, security, and threat assessment purposes; the systems will be used in crowd image analysis, spotting unattended luggage, and detecting threats to aviation both on the ground and in the air

  • Tiny, sensitive nano oscillator instantly detects pathogens in air or water

    Extraordinarily tiny sensors that can instantly recognize harmful substances in air or water; the device is just 200 nanometers thick and a few microns long with an oscillating cantilever hanging off one end; the cantilever is like a diving board that resonates at distinct frequencies

  • Flying ambulance: UAV will extract wounded soldiers from the battlefield

    There is one more mission being added to the ever-expanding list of operational, intelligence, surveillance, law-enforcement, first response, and disaster recovery missions assigned to UAVs: evacuating critically injured casualties directly from the battlefield to the hospital

  • Underground intelligence satellite navigation will work off lightning strikes

    The U.S. ubiquitous eye-in-the-sky satellites have driven more and more people and things of interest to disappear underground (just think Iran’s nuclear weapons program); deep tunnel complex shields an organization from the prying eyes of satellites, and it is also good protection against a sudden bombing raid; the U.S. military wants to be able to peek and conduct operations underground

  • World's first practical jetpack commercially available for $75,000

    Kiwi company Martin Aircraft is offering the world’s first commercial jetpacks; the machine is expected to revolutionize the military and be taken up by emergency services; the jetpack travels for about 30 minutes on a five-gallon tank of premium gasoline, has top speeds of 60 mph, and reaches heights of 2,400 meters (about 1.5 miles)