Portable pain gun could replace Colt 45s, logic in robot-controlled future

The Thermal Laser System (or the IR-Lesslethal device, if you prefer) has been brewing since at least 2005, but just recently the weapon prove to testers that it could create a beam strong enough to cause alarm and pain without actually damaging the skin or retina.

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GE displays 1TB DVD-Sized Disks, Using Holographic Technology

GE has been developing a holographic technology that can pack 1TB onto a DVD-sized disk that can be read by a modified Blu-ray player and is expected to last 100 years.

The first products using the technology will be 1TB drives for archival storage.
The holographic drives will have a 3ms access time and data transfer rates up to five times faster than a DVD. And they can be factory replicated, making them suitable for ultra-high quality movie distribution.

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Sony Develops High Frame Rate Single Lens 3D Camera Technology

Sony today announced the development of a single lens 3D camera technology capable of recording natural and smooth 3D images of even fast-moving subject matter such as sports, at 240fps (frames per second).

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Our Ancestor: Not Chimp, Not Human

A petite female early human climbed along tree branches on all fours but spent time upright on the ground some 4.4 million years ago in her woodland home in what is now Ethiopia.

The species brings scientists closer than ever to the last common ancestor we shared with chimpanzees and gorillas, which lived about 6 million or more years ago just before early humans split off from the chimpanzees and bonobos.

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National Broadband Could Cost $350 Billion

The total cost of developing a universal broadband plan for the United States could run as high as $350 billion, but the plan would produce major economic and social benefits ranging from improving healthcare and education to helping people with disabilities and improving public safety programs, according to a report prepared by an FCC task force.

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Raytheon Delivers Advanced SUV-based Radiation Detection System

Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) delivered its Mobile Nuclear Radiation Detection System (MNRDS) to Florida's Department of Transportation.

The MNRDS is a mobile radiation detection system mounted in a sports utility vehicle; it provides the ability to detect and identify nuclear radiation in mobile and stationary operations using advanced spectroscopic technology.

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SAM Manufacturers Eye $27.6 Bn Market through 2018

Although surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) have seldom been used in active combat in recent years, their production is still anticipated to be worth some $28 billion to manufacturers worldwide over the next 10 years.

"MBDA, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon will dominate this market," said Larry Dickerson, Senior Missile Analyst for Forecast International. The three companies will earn a combined $11.4 billion in SAM sales during the 2009-2018 period.

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EU launches free satnav system

The European Union on Thursday launched a free satellite navigation system with increased accuracy for drivers, hikers and boat owners, but also for use on farms and roadworks.

The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) boosts existing satellite navigation signals over Europe, improving the accuracy of the US military run GPS network from 10 metres to two metres.

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Plutonium Shortage Threatens Future Deep Space Missions

NASA's supply of plutonium-238, the fuel used to power deep space probes like Cassini and surface scouts like the upcoming Mars Science Laboratory, are dwindling. Unfortunately, that leaves NASA in a pretty tight spot: we’ve depleted our reserves of plutonium-238, and there isn’t anywhere to refuel ahead on the horizon either.

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No Nuke-Wielding Bots in Space, Pleads New Robot Arms Control Committee

A newly formed International Committee on Robot Arms Control (ICRAC) has asked nations to ban military bots from space and prevent robots from toting nuclear weapons.

Other concerns of the group include the temptation for robot-armed nations to go to war without casualties, and the danger of autonomous military bots kicking off conflicts on their own.

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Air Force Calls for Unmanned Cargo Aircraft To Supply Hazardous Combat Zones

Such a drone must have vertical or short takeoff and landing capability of 300 feet, and also have the ability to fly at airspeeds of 290 mph or more. The Air Force wish list for optional features includes: air-launched glide capability, powered capability, ship-based/recoverable capability, and the ability to land on all sorts of rough surfaces or water.

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Airborne Military Laser Takes Out Truck

The laser beam burns right through the truck's hood, and then through the engine, "defeating" the vehicle.

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CHIRPED-PULSE AMPLIFICATION: Petawatt now, exawatt on the horizon

Completed in early 2008 at the University of Texas at Austin, the Texas Petawatt is a 200 J, 150 fs, mixed-glass, optical-parametric chirped-pulse-amplifier (OPCPA) laser that has reached a peak power output of 1.1 petawatts (1.1 × 1015 W)–more than 2000 times the power output of the entire U.S. electrical grid. And now, according to Todd Ditmire, project director, and Mikael Martinez, project manager, it appears possible to use the technology developed for the laser in future work toward developing an exawatt (1018 W) laser.

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Flexible Paper Speakers on the Way

Scientists in Taiwan say that industrial production of an ultrathin, flexible loudspeaker made mostly out of paper could begin by the end of 2010.

”Aside from use in family, stereo, or automobile hi-fi equipment, it can also be used in earphones or for industrial antinoise purposes.

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STSS Satellites Successfully Launched

A critical space-based capability was added to America's ballistic missile
defenses Sept. 25 when two U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) Demonstrator satellites built by Northrop Grumman were launched aboard a Delta II rocket.

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FLIR, Sofradir Discuss Technology Deal

FLIR Systems of the United States and Sofradir of France are in talks on a deal aimed at putting technology from the French infrared specialist into the American company's third-generation dual-band IR cameras, aimed at the global military and commercial market, company executives said.

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