'Supermicroscope' shrunk down to lab-size

Physicists in the UK and Germany have created a powerful yet highly compact X-ray source, which they claim could come to replace some of the world's major research facilities.
X-ray beams have become a valuable tool for scientists because they can "see" deep inside matter, illuminating its internal structure at the atomic scale. Indeed, the technique is now applied across a wide range of science, from revealing the structure of viruses to tracking chemical reactions as they happen.

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Graphitic memory techniques advance at Rice

Advances by the Rice University lab of James Tour have brought graphite’s potential as a mass data storage medium a step closer to reality and created the potential for reprogrammable gate arrays that could bring about a revolution in integrated circuit logic design.

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Femtoseconds lasers help formation flying in space

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has helped to establish that femtosecond comb lasers can provide accurate measurement of absolute distance in formation flying space missions.
NPL, along with collaborators, produced technical reports for the European Space Agency. The conclusions demonstrated that the lasers were a suitable method for measurement in such missions.

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China's Phalanx

In the last five years, China has been installing a Chinese designed Type 730 30mm CIWS (Close In Weapon System) on its destroyers and newest frigates, while planning an update that adds short range missiles.

Costing some $5.4 million dollars per unit, and weighing eight tons, the seven barreled, 110 inch long, cannon resides in a box shaped turret providing point defense against anti-ship missiles, aircraft, coastal targets, small boats and mines.

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Sony prototype sends electricity through the air

Sony has developed a prototype power system that can send enough electricity to power a television set wirelessly over a short distance, it said Friday. In tests the company succeeded in sending a conventional 100 volt electricity supply over a distance of 50 centimeters to power a 22-inch LCD television.

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Fixing bones with dissolvable glass

Materials scientists led by Jörg Löffler at ETH Zurich in Switzerland have designed a metallic glass that dissolves harmlessly in the body. The idea is to make small supporting objects from this material, such as pins or nails, which would disappear over time.

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Honda Improves Process for Making Nanotubes

Honda Research Institute USA plans to publish results of new research on Friday that shows that the company has improved the success rate of growing carbon nanotubes with metallic properties, a key to using them in future power devices.

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Nissan Mimics School of Fish to Eliminate Collisions

Nissan believes a world without car crashes is a very real possibility, revealing today a new concept that mimics the complex motion of a school of fish.

Applying this concept to a small fleet of cars, in this case represented by tiny robots, Nissan has unveiled the working concept today at the CEATEC tech fair in Japan.

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Raytheon Provide Encrypted Combat Identification Technology To USAF

Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has been awarded an indefinite delivery-indefinite quantity contract worth up to $100 million to improve secure combat identification for the U.S. Air Force.

Under the five-year agreement, Raytheon will produce and deliver up to 8,000 KIV-77 applique crypto computers for Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) equipment.

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Wi-Fi Signals Can Be Used to See Through Walls

Researchers at the University of Utah have found a more subtle way to spy on your neighbors: Wi-Fi. By measuring the resistance to the radio waves that transmit wireless signals, the scientists can monitor whether or not someone is in a room at a given time.

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Stanford open-source "Frankencamera" could revolutionize photography

Stanford University (Stanford, CA) scientists say they are out to reinvent digital photography with the introduction of an open-source digital camera that will give programmers around the world the chance to create software that will teach cameras new tricks, meaning camera performance will no longer be limited by the software that comes pre-installed by the manufacturer.

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Space-Based Missile Warning Sensors Launched

The first pair of Space Tracking and Surveillance System demonstration (STSS-Demo) satellites were launched September 25, 2009 on a NASA Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral, FL. "This demonstration will show the inherent advantages space sensors bring to persistent missile tracking and engagement".

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Russia Develops the S-500 - a New Anti-Missile Defense System

ussian Air Force Deputy Commander for Air Defense Lieut. General Sergei Razygrayev confirmed in an interview with the Moscow Ekho radio that Russia is developing a new, more advanced air and missile defense system designated S-500.

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ATK, Lockheed to develop new warning system for US Navy aircraft

The US Navy has selected ATK and Lockheed Martin to compete for the right to produce the next missile and gunfire warning system for thousands of fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters.

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MRAPs Lose Utility In Afghanistan Fight

Marines in battle-torn Helmand Province are finding that the size and heft of mine-resistant, ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicles offer limited utility. The terrain of the region, coupled with the nature of their counterinsurgency campaign, is forcing Marines to spend most of their time on foot instead, despite the threat of buried bombs.

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Nanotech Could Make Humans Immortal by 2040, Futurist Says

In 30 or 40 years, we'll have microscopic machines traveling through our bodies, repairing damaged cells and organs, effectively wiping out diseases. The nanotechnology will also be used to back up our memories and personalities.

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Despite Parade Show, China Power Unknown: Experts

President Hu Jintao on October 1 called for even stronger armed forces as China flexed its muscles in a National Day parade, but experts said the PLA's marching skills might exceed actual fighting ability.

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