• Robotic German sperm dirigible ready to take off

    German engineers are ready to test a 111-foot long, tadpole-esque “segmented” drone airship; as was the case with the famous Graf Zeppelin airship liner of the 1930s, only the front compartment of the bendy airship contains helium for buoyancy’ the remaining back cells contain the fuel for the craft’s engine

  • National nuclear medicine shortage could have a Wisconsin solution

    Scientists believe they can generate the neutrons necessary to create Mo-99, an essential nuclear medicine tool, without using a nuclear reactor to do so; there is almost no long-lived nuclear waste, no risk of an explosive accident, and it is about 20 times less expensive to produce than more traditional methods

  • Compressed-air gun stops terrorist boats in their tracks

    Compressed air is used on the shoulder-held device to propel a line from a pursuing boat which drags with it a high-tech, high tensile net to disable the target craft’s propulsion system

  • SnatchLatch releases affordable trailer door security

    SnatchLatch HT provides bolt seal security on a broad range of heavy trucking trailers, containers, dry vans, and reefers

  • Police to use DNA "mugshots" as a predictive tool to narrow search

    Scientist say that rather than simply try to match DNA to individuals already in their database, DNA should be used to suggest what a suspect might look like

  • U.S. government eyes University of Maine's bridge technology

    Researchers at the University of Maine developed a “bridge-in-a-backpack” technology — so called because of its light weight and the portability of its components; the bridge uses carbon-fiber tubes that are inflated, shaped into arches, and infused with resin before being moved into place

  • "Active cloak" protects buildings from earthquakes

    Researchers say real objects could be cloaked by active cloaking — which means the technology uses devices that actively generate electromagnetic fields rather than being composed of “metamaterials” (exotic metallic substances) that passively shield objects from passing electromagnetic waves

  • Tiny Nano Air Vehicle (NAV) to help in in-door surveillance

    California company develops tiny UAV (10 gram, a 7.5-centimeter wingspan) that hovers and climbs with flapping wings; the NAV can explore caves and other hiding places, relaying GPS data and images to base

  • Competition for U.S. Marines' supply robocopter down to two

    The U.S. Marines are looking for unmanned supply helicopters that can deliver ten tons of supplies across distances of 150 miles in 24 hours; they also have to be able to hover at high altitudes (say, up in the Hindu Kush mountains)

  • "Point-and-toss" UAV in field demonstration

    Florida-based IATech used the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International’s biannual field demonstration to show its point-and-toss UAV: the unit measures 3 feet across and is thrown like a paper airplane; it costs only about $25,000

  • TSA conducting scanning tech evaluation

    TSA tests both millimeter wave and backscatter imaging technologies to address privacy concerns; the aim is to reduce concerns about privacy while strengthening the ability to detect metallic and non-metallic threats

  • Israel equips its tanks with anti-missile systems

    During the summer 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, twenty-two Israeli Merkava tanks were damaged by Russian Kornet anti-tank guided missiles fired by Hezbollah fighters; the Israeli military determined that most of the missile hits could have been averted if the tanks had been equipped with available anti-missile systems

  • DARPA acquires British hi-tech fabric vehicle armor

    U.K. company Amsafe developed hi-tech cloth which protects vehicles from RPGs and other rockets; DARPA, which has been trying for a long time to develop similar material under the RPGnets program, decides to order test quantities of the U.K. material

  • U.K. to create largest technology fund in Europe

    U.K. government’s agency issued an RFP that sets out parameters for the creation of the largest technology fund in Europe; the government forecasts that this investment will be enough to create a 10-year fund worth £1 billion

  • New titanium alloys offer better IED protection

    Titanium deforms and retains damage from strong impacts and fast applied forces — such compression on the metal can happen when it is hit by bullets or explosives; metallurgy theory provides a greater understanding of the material at the atomic scale — an understanding which will lead to the production of more resilient titanium