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UAV updateLaser-powered, ground-charged UAV stays aloft for hours
A UAV is only as good as its power source: if the drone cannot stay over target for long periods of time and must return to base to refuel, this not only adds to the costs of operating the drone but it also degrade its intelligence gathering capabilities; Seattle-based company demonstrates that it can use a laser beam to charge the UAV's photovoltaic cells, generating enough power to keep the drone in the air for hours; the company has bigger plans for extending flight duration of military craft -- and much more: in the longer term, it envisions lasers powering remote ground-based sensors, delivering power to forward military bases, or supplying emergency power during disasters
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Search and rescueSelf-learning robots to be used in earthquake, disaster rescue missions
Rescue robots capable of understanding the changing and unpredictable environment of disaster scenarios may one day be deployed to search for survivors in the aftermath of earthquakes; a robot equipped with a newly developed software, for example, would be able to recognize how something such as a stick could be used as a tool to push an object through an area too small for the robot to go into
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The Arab worldNew portal to serve as a forum for the Arab world's scientific community
The Arab world has a rich and impressive history of scientific inquiry, and during the Golden Age of science Arab scientists contributed great discoveries and inventions such as algebra, optics, medicine, and many others; indeed, for more than 500 years Arabic was the language of science; for a variety of historical and political reasons, the Arab world lost the position of scientific preeminence it had enjoyed, but the potential of the Arab world's contribution to science has not disappeared, and the prestigious journal Nature has recognized this fact by launching a new portal, Nature Middle East
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DARPA awards additional $11 million for video search technology
As a result of advancements in intelligence gathering technologies (think UAVs), the U.S. military and intelligence community have been accumulating video archives over the past decade which make YouTube look puny; it is not only the number of pictures, but their quality: mere HD movies and TV are small and tightly compressed compared to the high resolution, full-motion imagery which pours in like an avalanche from every Predator or Reaper drone -- and dozens of these surveillance drones are airborne above southwest Asia every minute of every day; DARPA is looking for an effective, automated video search technology
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DetectionNew smell sensor uses genetically engineered frog eggs
Researchers use genetically engineered frog cells to develop a sensor that detects gasses; the researchers embedded the sensor into a mannequin, so that it could shake its head when a gas was detected, making it easier to observe
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Search and rescueShape-shifting UAV for maritime search and rescue missions
Use of morphing flight surfaces has enabled the development of a shape-shifting UAV that can operate in extreme weather conditions; cutting-edge avionics ensure a smooth flight for extended rescue and surveillance missions, while reducing risks to material and crews
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RoboticsFlying robotic arm can pick up bombs, packages
A helicopter equipped with a robotic hand picks up small objects; the robotic arm could be used in spots that are difficult for ground robots to get to, such as high or roughly terrained places; it could also be used to pick up bombs or packages
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Be preparedEarthquake-proof bed patented
A Chinese inventor patented a design for an earthquake-proof bed; if your house collapses on top of you, the bed's thick frame can support a roof -- and the extra space inside its thick boards can store essential foodstuffs like canned goods and life sustaining water
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End-of-world anti-Hadron Collider case thrown out on appeal
Walter L Wagner, a cantankerous botanist from Hawaii, has been waging a battle against the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) for more than two years now, claiming that the continuing operation of the powerful particle accelerator risks bringing about doomsday by creating a large black hole which would swallow Earth; he sued to have the LHC operation stopped, but a court says that Wagner is basing his motion on "speculative fear of future harm," and that such fear "does not constitute an injury in fact sufficient to confer standing"; moreover, "-- the alleged injury, destruction of the earth, is in no way attributable to the U.S. government's failure to draft an environmental impact statement"
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InfrastructureElevated super bus to solve Beijing's traffic woes
Beijing and Mexico City vie for the title of the city with the worst traffic jams in the world; Beijing is now looking at an elevated "super bus" as a possible solution; the bus travels on rails and straddles two lanes of traffic, allowing cars to drive under its passenger compartment, which holds up to 1,400 people
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Public health"Smart Potty": medical check ups, automatic seat-lowering
Japanese "intelligent" toilets offer users an array of functions -- heated seats, water jets with pressure and temperature controls, hot-air bottom dryers, perfume bursts, ambient background music, and noise-masking audio effects for the easily embarrassed; the latest model also offers instant health check-up every time a user answers the call of nature
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First responseRobots huddle together to boost communication in urban disaster areas
Communicating with robots on the ground gets harder once they move beyond the line of sight, but equipping a group with the "sparse antenna" technology improves communications by extending the radio range; first responders will note that this could make it easier to communicate with robots working in hard-to-reach environments, such as urban disaster areas
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Testing rayguns
Technologies for using laser energy to destroy threats at a distance -- these weapons known as directed energy weapons -- have been in development for many years; before these weapons can be used in the field, the lasers must be tested and evaluated at test ranges, and the power and energy distribution of the high-energy laser beam must be accurately measured on a target board, with high spatial and temporal resolution
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Tracking algorithms for multiple targets win Australia's prestigious Eureka Prize
A University of Western Australia team -- including two borthers who are professors at the school -- have won the Eureka Prizes, Australia's "science Oscars," for a tracking system that has revolutionized the surveillance and monitoring of potential threats in the vast air, sea, and land space of Australia -- and of other countries
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In the trenchesDARPA looking for VTOL UAV to plant covert spy devices
The Pentagon is looking for a VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) UAV/UASs - or V-Bat - which will autonomously plant such surveillance devices as remote cameras/bugs, communications relays, marker beacons, small battery powered ground-crawler, or inside-buildings flying robots
The Long View
Top 10 smart surveillance systems from Israel
Video surveillance systems have become an important tool in enabling authorities to trace criminals and terrorists; Israel is one of the leading players in the field of intelligent surveillance; here is a list of the Top 10 video security technologies from Israel; these companies offer solutions that range from "seeing" through walls to reducing twenty-four hours of video to a few (indexed) minutes to detecting subtle changes in the landscape to offering high-resolution under-water images, and much more
Israel's top 10 airport security technologies, II
No-one understands security as the Israelis do, and this is why some of the world's best new innovative airport security technologies are being developed in Israel; since the foiled Christmas Day attempt on a Detroit-bound plane, airport authorities around the world are in a race to find novel solutions to fight terror, and the strategies and technical tactics Israel has adopted feature high on their lists
Israel's top 10 airport security technologies, I
No-one understands security as the Israelis do, and this is why some of the world's best new innovative airport security technologies are being developed in Israel; since the foiled Christmas Day attempt on a Detroit-bound plane, airport authorities around the world are in a race to find novel solutions to fight terror, and the strategies and technical tactics Israel has adopted feature high on their lists
Scientists closer to a safer anthrax vaccine
The currently available, 40-year-old anthrax vaccine, can prevent disease, but it has significant drawbacks: Immunity is temporary, and five injections over the course of eighteen months are needed to sustain it; one in five vaccine recipients develop redness, swelling, or pain at the injection site, and a small number develop severe allergic reactions; researchers offer a better vaccine
Nuclear fusionCold 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
Planetary securityNew ideas for deflecting Earth-threatening asteroids
As scientists use better equipment to make more accurate observations of space, they find more Earth-threatening objects loitering in Near Earth Orbit; a debate is growing as to the best method to deal with this threat
Shape of things to comeDARPA funds Phase 2 of human limb regeneration study
When you cut off a salamander's leg, a blastema, or regeneration bud, appears at the stump and then grows into a new leg with muscles, nerves, etc. all complete; DARPA wants to see whether the same can be dome for human limbs
