• Seeing through concrete, clearly

    Insurgents and terrorists fight from within civilian structures, making it difficult for soldiers and first responders to respond without injuring many civilians; DARPA wants a solution which would allow soldiers to look through concrete walls and give them a detailed picture of a building’s interior — right down to the fixtures

  • £8.5 million in grants for innovative businesses in east England

    U.K. regional development agency has £8.5 million in grants for research and development of hi-tech products and proof of concept; businesses may also benefit from funds available from the European Regional Development Fund

  • Smart bandage tells doctors about state of wound healing

    Dutch researchers develop a smart bandage which updates doctors about the wound healing process; bandage made of printed electronic sensors; the researchers’ next goal: add an antenna to transmit information about the patient’s health remotely to the attending physician

  • Metallic nanostructures make security and medical sensors possible

    New sensors could be tailor-made instantly to detect the presence of particular molecules, for example poisons or explosives in transport screening situations, or proteins in patients’ blood samples, with high sensitivity

  • DARPA looking for construction material made of solar cells

    What if there was a material made of solar cells but which would be strong and flexible enough to be used for making planes and cars? There would be no need for an engine — or for batteries, as the material would generate and store power

  • £44 million to U.K. universities to share knowledge with business

    U.K. Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) created the Knowledge Transfer Accounts (KTA) program to increase collaboration between academia and business; so far, the EPSRC’s KTA programs have awarded a total of £44 million

  • Full-body imaging systems deployed to airports

    Millimeter wave and backscatter technologies may be a popular alternative to searches, but privacy remains an issue

  • UAV relies on alternative energy for silent performance

    U.S. Navy researchers merge two separate efforts — UAV technology and fuel cell systems — to develop UAV with stealthy characteristics: small size, reduced noise, low heat signature, and zero emissions

  • Robot controlled by human thoughts

    Japanese researchers develop a robot that can be given commands by human thoughts; a helmet equipped with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) sensors which measure the changes in cerebral blood flow associated with specific thoughts — and transmits the information to the robot

  • Cold fusion is enjoying a rebirth

    Researchers presented new evidence for the existence of this promising — and controversial — energy source’ papers discussed last week at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society

  • Soldiers' helmets serve as sniper location system

    Commodore researchers develop a networked helmet that help soldiers and first responders fighting in a hazardous urban environment pin-point and display the location of enemy shooters in three dimensions and accurately identify the caliber and type of weapons they are firing

  • U.K. consortium to build nuclear fusion reactor

    U.K. companies have formed a consortium to bid for construction of the main reactor vacuum vessel of the €5 billion (£4.6 billion) International Tokamak Experimental Reactor (ITER) nuclear fusion reactor

  • IDF develops remote-controlled bulldozer

    A new addition to the growing legion of unmanned vehicles: The Israeli military develops remote-controlled bulldozer; the bulldozers were used during the Gaza operation to clear roads of mines and explosive devices

  • Researchers test straw house for earthquake resilience

    There is a growing realization that we need a different construction method for buildings in earthquake-prone regions — especially if these regions are poor and cannot enjoy the latest in engineering; University of Nevada test straw houses as the solution

  • New device locates people in danger

    University of Pittsburgh researchers develop a tracking device that can pinpoint within a few feet the locations of people inside burning buildings or other structures where there is an emergency