ZigBee low-power radio networking

ZigBee is a low-power radio networking technology. It can support thousands of nodes in dynamic star and mesh networks. This is in contrast to Wibree, or ULP Bluetooth, for example, which links a small number of nodes to a host device, such as computer or phone.

The main application focus for Zigbee devices is monitoring and control. Examples of use include: lighting controls, medical sensing and monitoring, heating controls, smoke detectors and even smart meters.

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Weather “Shapes and forms our human clock”

Scientists have discovered, our internal body clocks are formed by the weather plus by the seasons. Researchers employed computers to model the functions of internal biological clocks.
They discovered that the system had to be so complex since it was capable to deal with changeable amounts of light from hour to hour, in addition to varying seasons.

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Frankencamera Could Herald a New Digital Photography Era

Developed by a team of Stanford scientists, the Frankencamerais an open source camera that could change photography by giving users the power to manipulate its features and capabilities in ways that might not yet have even been imagined.

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Microsoft, Dell, Spectrum Bridge launch first public white spaces network

The first public white spaces network officially launched on Wednesday in Claudville, Virginia. It is uses sensing technology from Spectrum Bridge with software and Web cams supplied by Microsoft and PCs supplied by Dell. The project was funded the TDF Foundation.

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Improved Electric Propulsion Could Boost Satellite Lifetimes

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have won a $6.5 million grant to develop improved components that will boost the efficiency of electric propulsion systems used to control the positions of satellites and planetary probes.

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Roll Out of Ares I-X Marks Major Milestone for ATK and NASA

Alliant Techsystems (NYSE: ATK) and NASA made history today as the Ares I-X rocket rolled to the launch pad, marking the first time in more than 25 years a new vehicle has left the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center.

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ITT Extends Leadership in C-IED Technology

ITT Corporation (NYSE:ITT) has been awarded a $16 million contract from the Naval Sea Systems Command to develop next-generation technologies that will defeat Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). This award, the Joint Counter Radio-Controlled Electronic Warfare (JCREW) 3.3, builds on ITT's clear leadership in counter-IED technology, with more than 20,000 JCREW systems designed and built by ITT currently in the field.

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50 nuclear missiles deactivated at Malmstrom

Malmstrom Air Force Base officials say they have completed deactivation of 50 missile launch facilities for the 564th Missile Squadron after two years of work.

A maintenance group put in more than 29,000 hours to remove all the major equipment and components from the silos, as well as the five missile-alert facilities that controlled them.

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Super-Sized Memory Could Fit Into Tiny Chips

North Carolina State University engineers have created a new material that could allow a fingernail-sized chip to store the equivalent of 20 high-definition DVDs or 250 million pages of text — that’s 50 times the capacity of current memory chips.

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Just 15 Minutes of Sensory Deprivation Triggers Hallucinations

Just 15 minutes of near-total sensory deprivation can bring on hallucinations in many otherwise sane individuals.

Psychologists stuck 19 healthy volunteers into a sensory-deprivation room, completely devoid of light and sound, for 15 minutes. Without the normal barrage of sensory information flooding their brains, many people reported experiencing visual hallucinations, paranoia and a depressed mood.

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Scientists Find A Precision Clock Logging the Milliseconds Inside Your Brain

Certain neurons in the striatum and prefrontal cortex fire at certain intervals, which MIT researchers have determined to be an internal clock time-stamping sensory experiences for memory just as a digital camera might time-stamp a photo file.

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Consortium joins with China, Japan, and Korea to promote 3D technology

Representatives of the 3D@Home Consortium (San Jose, CA; www.3dathome.org), dedicated to speeding the commercialization of three-dimensional (3D) technology and content to the home, met with their counterparts from the 3D Fusion Industry Consortium (3DFIC; www.3dfic.org) of Korea, the China 3D Industry Association (C3D; www.c3dworld.org), and the 3D Consortium (3DC; www.3dc.gr.jp) of Japan, to discuss collaborative efforts to advance 3D technology and markets (see "3-D displays transcend consumer novelty").

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Treaties Prompt Redesign Of Cluster Bombs

International pressure is driving militaries to adopt alternatives to cluster bombs. The weapons are controversial because they leave unexploded ordnance (UXO) on a battlefield, where it can injure or kill civilians. Treaties may limit their use, and suppliers are looking at ways of adapting weapons to new requirements. These could include a shift toward unitary warheads, enhanced fuzes and fail-safe measures that eliminate UXOs.

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U.S.A.F. Launches Major Technology Review

In the midst of a deeply entrenched identity crisis, the U.S. Air Force is turning to technology as the potential answer to some of its problems.

Air Force Chief Scientist Werner Dahm is conducting a sweeping “Technology Horizons” study to lay out technological opportunities that could produce useful applications for the service.

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Researchers Create Artificial Memories in the Brain of a Fruitfly

As part of a project to understand how the brain learns, biologists have written memories into the cells of a fruitfly’s brain, making it think it had a terrible experience.

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German team develop instant liquid explosive detector

German scientists said on Tuesday they have developed a new technology that could allow air passengers to take liquids on planes again by instantly being able to tell if they are explosive.

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U.S. Will Never Accept a Nuclear-Armed N. Korea: Gates

The United States will never accept a nuclear-armed North Korea, Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned Oct. 21, saying its atomic and missile programs pose a "lethal and destabilizing" threat.

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