• Mystery surrounds detection of North Korea's nuclear test

    Detecting radionuclide evidence in the form of radioactive gas is the “smoking gun” — proving that a nuclear explosion has occurred; seismologists say they are comfortable that explosion in North Korea two weeks ago was a nuclear test — but sensors have not been able to pick up radionuclide evidence

  • Inflatable tower would bring people to the edge of space

    Scientists describe a 15-kilometer inflatable tower made up of 100 modules, each one 150 meters tall and 230 meters in diameter, built from inflatable tubes 2 meters across; when pressurized, the tower would weigh 800,000 tons — twice the weight of the world’s largest supertanker

  • Motorola: Cellphones could offer a unified disaster alerts broadcasts

    Motorola envisages using cellphones for emergency alerts even if most of a cellphone network is down; a new generation of cellphones that can rapidly form a peer-to-peer network when an emergency alert is broadcast

  • Technology to prevent police friendly-fire accidents "nonviable"

    Following a recent killing of a plain clothes policeman by fellow officers, the NYPD asked the Pacific Northwestern Laboratory to look into the possibility of developing a technology which would prevent such accidents in the future; PNL says such technology is currently nonviable

  • IDF to use serpent surveillance robot

    Israeli researchers developed a 2-meter long serpent-like robot which mimics the movements and appearance of real snakes, slithering around through caves, tunnels, cracks, and buildings, while at the same time sending images and sound back to a soldier who controls the device through a laptop computer

  • UAV operation now a career path in U.S. Air Force

    The USAF has 127 Predator and 31 Reaper UAVs in service, along with some 400 pilots to run them; these operators can put about 36 UAVs into the air at any given time; the USAF wants to be able to do more, so it has instituted a policy which will see 10 percent of recent graduates from pilot schools will spend three years operating UAVs, before going on to flying manned aircraft

  • NYPD looking for technology to prevent friendly fire

    The recent accidental shooting of a plain clothes policeman by fellow officers has prompted NYPD to seek technology to prevent friendly fire accidents; the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will help

  • Radio-controlled bullets

    Rifle fires radio-controlled bullets that can detonate within a meter of a target, allowing soldiers to fire on snipers hiding in trenches, behind walls, or inside buildings

  • Flying car's proof-of-concept testing now complete

    Terrafugia says its Transition flying car has completed the proof-of-concept testing; company now to build a beta test prototype; the company is taking reservations, and deliveries are expected in 2011

  • U.K. to test technology to reduce friendly fire accidents

    New technology will allow pilots to identify U.K. soldiers on the ground; the Combat ID Server (CIDS) system will be continuously updated about the location of U.K. troops on the ground; pilots will see these see blips representing U.K. ground units in his or her heads-up display

  • Fuel-cells will extend UAVs' ability to roam the skies

    At present, battery-powered electric UAVs are limited to one to three hours of flight; Massachusetts-based Protonex developed a power systems which allows this flight time to be extended by up to four times

  • New flood warning system developed

    Researchers from the United Kingdom and China develop a software-based flood warning system which takes into account both climate change and corresponding hydrological effects

  • Aussie Defense Department trials sneaky cameras

    One of the biggest shortcomings of facial recognition devices is the angle of image capture; DSTO is toying with “attractors” — lights and sounds emitting devices that draw the attention of passers-by so they inadvertently look directly into a camera

  • Biometric: Promise and peril

    The trend toward digital identification and biometrics appears inexorable; this trend is a boon to companies in biometrics — but it also raises serious privacy concerns

  • Biometric technologies improve, offering greater reliability

    Biometrics is not perfect — but it is improving; biometrics is developing along two lines — physical, which is often more intrusive for the user, and behavioral, which is usually less intrusive; Fujitsu’s Jerry Byrnes: “What was James Bond 15 years ago is biometric reality today”