‘NanoPen’ may write new chapter in nanotechnology manufacturing

Researchers in California are reporting development of a so-called “NanoPen” that could provide a quick, convenient way of laying down patterns of nanoparticles — from wires to circuits — for making futuristic electronic devices, medical diagnostic tests, and other much-anticipated nanotech applications.

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New graphene-based nanomaterial with magnetic properties designed

An international team of researchers has designed a new graphite-based, magnetic nano-material that acts as a semiconductor and could help material scientists create the next generation of electronic devices like microchips.

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Social networks--the new front in war on terror

Unnamed intelligence agencies and certain academics have yet to give up on data mining to identify terrorists and predict attacks, despite a 352-page tome published last year pronouncing the practice a waste of time.

The U.S. is spending "hundreds of millions of dollars" to develop techniques to mine the mountains of information gleaned from e-mails, telephone calls, interviews with suspects, and now social networks to build-up Facebook-style databanks on international terrorists, according to a recent piece in the British newspaper, The Independent.

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How to Get Humans on Mars: Make It a One-Way Trip

Landing humans on Mars is a completely achievable feat with current technology—if you are okay with the idea of a one-way ticket, points out physicist and Scientific American columnist Lawrence Krauss in an op-ed in yesterday's New York Times .

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World's First "Hot Ice" Computer Solves Problems, With the Occasional Freeze

Those chemical handwarmers you stuff in your gloves during ski season usually solve just one problem: frosty digits. But the sodium acetate used to generate that heat is a far better problem solver than you might think; researchers in Bristol, U.K., have created a "hot ice" computer that utilizes the chemical compound to solve mazes and tackle various other computing problems.

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When peeled, adhesive tape emits terahertz radiation

Believe it or not, researchers at the University of Wollongong (New South Wales, Australia) have discovered that peeling adhesive tape emits unpolarized terahertz radiation. The researchers found that the mechanism of this emission is most likely triboelectric charging, or tribocharging for short–a transfer of electric charge (most likely ions) between two materials.

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A cordless future for electricity?

Electronics such as phones and laptops may start shedding their power cords within a year.

That's the prediction of Eric Giler, CEO of WiTricity, a company that's able to power light bulbs using wireless electricity that travels several feet from a power socket.

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Boeing Advanced Tactical Laser Defeats Ground Target in Flight Test

The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] and the U.S. Air Force on Aug. 30 defeated a ground target from the air with the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) aircraft, demonstrating ATL's first air-to-ground, high-power laser engagement of a tactically representative target.

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Tube-launched UAVs could be in air in 2010

An unmanned aerial vehicle small enough to launch from a plane or another UAV could be ready for the Air Force as soon as 2011, according to an expert with one of the five companies competing to produce the missile look-alike.

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Supercomputer Uses Flash Storage Drives

The San Diego Supercomputer Center has built a high-performance computer with solid-state drives, which the center says could help solve science problems faster than systems with traditional hard drives.

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Raytheon Standard Missile-6 Completes Key Developmental Test

Raytheon's Standard Missile-6 has completed tests which validate the extended-range anti-air warfare missile's airframe and autopilot performance.

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