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Patent "trolls" bill not likely soon
Patent trolls, who file patents without any intention of developing them, have been the bane of the technology sector (remember the Blackberry case?); a bill to limit the rights of trolls passed the House but stalled in a Senate committee
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Energía renovable en Aragón
Renewable energy in Spain: Iberdola Renewables, one of Spain’s largest alternative energy companies, forms a joint venture with an Aragón bank to develop clean energy installations in the Aragon region of northeastern Spain
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Army future combat technology demonstrated for Congress
The Army exhibited its future combat systems on Capitol Hill last week; among the items demonstrated: urban unattended ground sensors, land warrior, small UGV, and Class I UAV
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Shape-shifting skin to reduce drag on planes and submarines
Dolphins induce their skin to wrinkle so water would not stick to them, thus reducing drag and friction; researchers design shape-shifting skin for submarines and planes to reduce drag
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World's first rocket racing event announced
The EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, is the world’s largest air show, with this year’s expected attendance of 700,000; on the first two days of August the show will offer a new feature: Rocket racing; home-made rockets will compete
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Ontario invests in harnessing river flow for energy
New York City already has it: A Free Flow Turbine in the East River which will generate 10 MW when the project is completed; now Ontario wants to place a three-blade, horizontal-axis turbine on the floor of the St. Lawrence River
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Energy from vortices
When water flows over an underwater obstacle, whirlpools or vortices form alternately above and below it; the vortices create a tugging effect, so the result is an alternating force that yanks the object up and down; Wolverines researchers want to harness the power of vortices to generate energy
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New technology allows for better communication on the battlefield
Multi-User Detection technology allows radios to transmit at the same time while sharing the same frequency; MUD allows more traffic on various networking systems, which is an advantage to military personnel with critical need for high throughput air-to-air, air-to-ground, and soldier-to-soldier communications
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USGS says Bakken Formation holds large recoverable oil, gas reserves
U.S. Geological Survey assesses Bakken Formation to Hold 3 to 4.3 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil — 25 times more than 1995 estimate; in addition, assessment also identified 1.85 trillion cubic feet of associated/dissolved natural gas, and 148 million barrels of natural gas liquids
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Stolen military items available for sale online
GAO investigators buy dozens of prohibited military items on eBay and Craigslist; some of the time would be of direct help to terrorists and insurgents
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UK Biometrics offers new finger print reader
Newcastle-based biometric company introduces its Evolution product; company says Evolution can scan one million records per second
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New way to estimate size and frequency of meteorite impacts
How large was the meteorite which hit Earth 65 million years ago, leading to the extinction of the dinosaurs? Now we know: Four to six kilometers in diameter; scientists offer new methods to measure the size and frequency of meteorite impact
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New methods for detecting IEDs
Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have exerted a painful toll on coalition forces in Iraq, and now in Afghanistan; DHS is worried that IEDs will soon make their deadly appearance on U.S. soil; Wolverines researchers offer a novel methods for detecting IEDs
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Simulating hurricanes to test buildings' resilience
Researchers built a system of “blower boxes” which exert pressure on buildings similar to the buffeting of winds from gusts exceeding 250 kilometers per hour; the goal is to find ways to construct sturdier, more resilient structures
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One VC's view: "Water is the next oil"
VC hopes to capitalize on an increasingly scarce resource
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More headlines
The long view
A New Way to Detect Radiation Involving Cheap Ceramics
The radiation detectors used today for applications like inspecting cargo ships for smuggled nuclear materials are expensive and cannot operate in harsh environments, among other disadvantages. Work by MIT engineers could lead to plethora of new applications, including better detectors for nuclear materials at ports.
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.
Plan B: Keeping Nuclear Power Plants Cool in a Warmer, Drier Climate
Waterways — tried and true cooling sources for nuclear power plants — could get warmer due to global climate change. Climate scientists and nuclear science and engineering experts are joining forces to develop a plan B for nuclear power.