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New reactor design solves waste, weapon proliferation problems
A new nuclear reactor design — called Traveling-Wave reactor — is noteworthy for three things: it comes from a privately funded research company, not the government; it would run on what is now waste, thus reducing dramatically the nuclear waste and weapon proliferation problems; and it could theoretically run for a couple of hundred years without refueling
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Economists: copyright and patent laws killing innovation, hurting economy
Two Washington University researchers argue that innovation is key to reviving the economy; trouble is, the current patent/copyright system discourages and prevents inventions from entering the marketplace
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Economists: Markets outperform patents in promoting intellectual discovery
Researchers say that the problem with patents is that they give the prize to the winner only; whoever comes in second or third walks away empty-handed; allowing people to benefit even if they only tackle a part of a problem might well lead to more collaboration, and to the faster development of an ultimate solution to the whole problem
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DARPA, U.S. Army looking for social computing technology
Here is the Pentagonese for social network technology: “new technologies to rapidly create theoretically-informed, data-driven models of complex human, social, cultural, and behavioral dynamics that are instantiated in near-realtime simulations”
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Researchers develop plutonium which is good for power but not for weapons
Israeli researcher finds that adding the rare-earth isotope Americium-241 in due proportion during reprocessing “declaws” plutonium, making suitable for power generation but not for weapons
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Ejector-seat ambulance design
U.K. design students produce a novel concept: an ambulance with ejector seats; when paramedics arrive on the scene of the disaster, they and their equipment are “hurled” toward the victims to ensure faster treatment
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Designing the world's first purpose-built law enforcement vehicle
Yellow Jackets researchers help an Atlanta-based start-up design the world’s first vehicle designed specifically to meet the patrol needs of law enforcement agencies
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U.S. military is looking for all-in-one triggering device
At present, soldiers wishing to blow something up usually have to assemble firing circuits, electronics, detonators, and main charges in the field — or, at any rate, lash them together with gaffer tape and so forth prior to parachuting, submarining, or helicoptering into action; Pentagon research arm want a better way of triggering an explosive
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Consumer-driven face recognition changes public debate
New photo programs from Apple and Google include revolutionary face-spotting technology; trouble is, Google’s Picasa would allow tagged photos from all its Picasa users to create a global database matching photos to e-mail addresses
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Military robotics moves forward
The trend toward autonomous military systems is about to reach a new — and important — phase: machines that do not only aim and shoot, but which also make the decision when and at what target to shoot
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German high-tech sector holds up
Turnover in German-made IT, telecommunications, and digital consumer electronics will hold steady at about €145 billion — still, the German high-tech industry would perform worse than the global high-tech sector as a whole, which is expected to boost sales about 3 percent to €2.416 trillion
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British government to boost investment in science
Gordon Brown: “Science alone gives us hope” that we can eliminate poverty, tackle climate change, and mitigate the impact of disease around the world
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DARPA awards Lockheed nano-copter contract
Both the military and law enforcement are interested in tiny helicopters — 8 grams in weight and the size of a coin — for intelligence missions inside buildings; three years ago Lockheed had a development program for such a device, and it now comes back to it
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San Diego State builds radiation detection system
New Immersive Visualization Center on the campus of San Diego State collaborates with the university’s Homeland Security Program to build, and then demonstrate, gamma radiation detection perimeter system
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New building design withstands earthquake simulation
Wolverines researchers used steel fiber-reinforced concrete to develop a better kind of coupling beam that requires less reinforcement and is easier to construct
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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.