• USDA's IG warns about flood of genetically modified crops

    Experts expect the number of genetically modified crops and traits, and the number of countries producing them, to double by 2015, raising the risks of imports of GM crops unknown to the USDA; worry centers on countries such as China, India, and Brazil where health and safety standards are more lax

  • Smiths Detection shows active mm-wave detection system

    Passive mm-wave detection systems pick up the mm-wave heat energy emitted by the body, which is used as a background reference point; active systems transmit mm-wave into the detection area to boost the level of energy overall, give a better return and a more detailed image

  • New car-stopper uses squids' tentacle-based approach

    Looking for an answer to stop fleeing cars or suicide trucks hurtling toward their target, an Arizona company developed a tentacle-based device that ensnares the vehicle and brings it to a halt

  • Researchers develop silent UAVs

    UAVs are used more and more in surveillance and operational roles on the battlefield — and by the police; the larger UAVs are very noisy, announcing their presence and allowing the adversary to hide or escape; Georgia Institute of Technology researchers work on equipping UAVs with a “whisper” mode

  • ScanEagle offers and example of dual-use technology

    Initially developed to track dolphins and tuna from fishing boats in order to ensure “dolphin-safe” tuna in supermarkets, the ScanEagle UAV system has evolved into a mainstay with the U.S. Navy — and others as well

  • Top 7 alternative technologies to fossil fuel

    Energy expert says that an “all of the above” approach to the world’s energy problem is wrong; study shows wind and solar to be the most promising alternative technologies to fossil fuel; biofuel, clean coal, and nuclear power are do not hold such promise

  • Keeping water clean

    Researchers develop hydrogel material that can detect and remove contaminants in water; the hydrogel shrinks as it absorbs heavy metal pollutants, signaling the presence of cadmium and other toxic ions, even as it absorbs them from the contaminated water

  • U.K. military employs hovering droids in Afghanistan

    Hovering petrol-powered prowler patrols to check Afghan ambush alleys so soldiers do not have to; device may be used by law enforcement in urban areas — and future systems may carry weapons

  • Detecting rusted metal encased in concrete structures

    Many of the problems of aging infrastructure owe to rusting metal; trouble is, much of that metal is encased in concrete — in bridges, tunnels, dams, roads; new technology uses electromagnetic fields to measure corrosion through non-ferrous material

  • Israel uses new ISR systems, ordnance

    Advocates of air power were humbled in the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, but they hope to be vindicated in the Israel-Hamas conflict; Israel uses new ISR systems which shrink the sensor-to-shooter loop, and new bunker-busting ordnance

  • NIST's electromagnetic Phantom standardizes metal detector tests

    An electromagnetic phantom — a carbon and polymer mixture that simulates the human body — is being readied by NIST as a standardized performance test for walk-through metal detectors such as those used at airports

  • "Small is beautiful" comes to the nuclear power industry

    The main problem facing nuclear power is not the fear of accidents or terrorism, or anxiety about nuclear waste disposal; it is cost (it takes about $4,000/kilowatt to build a nuclear power station); there is a growing interest in small, tub-size nuclear power units

  • SwissCopter in $15 million Middle East deal

    Swiss developer of manned and unmanned systems for surveillance and search-and-rescue — and the innovative software these systems use — receives an order from an “unnamed Middle Eastern government”

  • Scientists seek ways to ward off killer asteroids

    The U.S. Congress has tasked a blue-ribbon panel of scientists with two missions: Find better ways to detect and deflect asteroids that might hit Earth; more than 5,000 near Earth objects, including 789 potentially hazardous objects, have been identified so far

  • Government examines, then dismisses, threat of gravitational waves

    A U.S. company solicited funds from the Defense Intelligence Agency to examine the threat to the United States from gravitational waves; the agency concludes that notions that these waves might pose a security threat “belong to the realm of pseudo-science, not science” (physicists say you did not need a 40-page report to reach this conclusion)