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Debate over safety of taser-proof vests
A U.S. body-armor company is selling taser-proof vests to police units; some argue that the vests make officers less safe because taser-toting bad guys would now aim for the officer’s head; the response: this is like arguing that bullet-proof vests make officer less safe because the bad guy would aim for the head
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Debate over safety of taser-proof vests
A U.S. body-armor company is selling taser-proof vests to police units; some argue that the vests make officers less safe because taser-toting bad guys would now aim for the officer’s head; the response: this is like arguing that bullet-proof vests make officer less safe because the bad guy would aim for the head
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Innovative shoe scanner to make travel safer, lines shorter
University of Manchester researcher develops a technology which allows security personnel to spot people with concealed items in their shoes as they walk through passport control or through traditional security checks
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DHS to use TeraView's terahertz technology in chemical detection
Goodrich chose U.K. terahertz technology specialist TeraView for developing a DHS-sponsored chemical detection system for government and public buildings, and on the battlefield
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Using pre-cast abutments to build bridges faster
Wisconsin contractor using pre-cast, segmental abutments for the first time to build a bridge in Wisconsin; technique may allow building bridges 30 percent faster
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GE shows a chemical sensor that does not need batteries
Researchers develop a chemical sensor that can detect minute quantities of chemicals in the air or water; it has no batters: it receives its power wirelessly from a sensor reader
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Spanish mathematicians model submarine avalanches and tsunamis
Mathematicians develop a new model to explain submarine avalanches and certain types of tsunamis.
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Battery-free, multi-detection wireless sensors
Home food and beverage safety monitoring, remote water purity testing, more effective chemical and biological sensors are all potential applications
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U.S. government looking for game-changing cyberspace ideas
With an RFI published yesterday in the Federal Register, the Bush administration has launched its Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI); initiative seeks “the most promising game-changing ideas with the potential to reduce vulnerabilities to cyber exploitations by altering the cybersecurity landscape”
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SAIC to develop artificial nose
DARPA awards SAIC a contract under the RealNose program; the project aims to create a device which emulates dogs’ olfactory system
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Briefly noted
Laser raygun plane gets $30m extended evaluation… Security wonks warn of cell phone zombie uprising… Aladdin’s cyber security center… Gartner: Top 10 strategic technologies for 2009
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Thales opens European security center
More than 25 percent of Thales’s revenues come from its security systems, which totalled approximately €3.4 billion in 2007; the French giant launches a security research center dedicated to homeland security
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Technology start-ups, investment, and the financial crisis
The U.S. financial crisis need not spell doom for technology start-ups, says Kevin Maney; one of the main reasons: “The cost of starting a tech company has dropped precipitously, thanks to cheaper/better/faster technology”
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U Kentucky researchers demonstrate milk transportation safety system
Wildcats researchers develop a milk tracking system which will dramatically improve the safety of bulk milk transport
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UAVs-mounted aircraft defense system demonstrated
Until now there have been two leading approaches to protecting civilian aircraft from shoulder-fired missiles: One approach proposed placing the defensive systems on the planes to be protected, the other advocated surrounding airports with a protective umbrella; a third approach has now been demonstrated: Mounting defensive systems on UAVs loitering high in the sky
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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.