Algae finds use in batteries

These algae have a special cellulose structure characterised by a very large surface area,' said Gustav Nyström, a doctoral student in nanotechnology. 'By coating this structure with a thin layer of conducting polymer, we have succeeded in producing a battery that weighs almost nothing and that has set new charge-time and capacity records for polymer-cellulose-based batteries.'

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Ferromagnetic fridges

Advances in magnetic refrigeration technology could help the average household cut energy consumption by up to 10 per cent, according to researchers at BASF.The German chemical company has been working alongside power supply manufacturer Delta Electronics to develop ferromagnetic materials that could be used to replace existing compressor technology in refrigerators and cooling systems.

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Feds push new national identification card program after "Real ID" flops

Four years ago, President Bush signed a law requiring states to create driver's licenses that meet national standards, store related information in nationally connected databases and foot the bill for most of this nearly $4-billion project. Now, after the 2005 Real ID Act has alienated state governments and privacy advocates alike, the federal government is considering a replacement measure called Pass ID that it hopes will improve national security while being less expensive and less intrusive on privacy.

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UCSB Scientists Create Cancer-Stopping Nanoparticle-and-Laser Treatment

Nanotechnology, lasers, genetics, and cancer? If there was also something about space, this story might have been a PopSci full house. Scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), have figured out a way to deliver cancer-stopping RNA directly into the nucleus of a diseased cell. To get into the nucleus, the RNA is wrapped in special gold nanoshells which are then selectively opened by a laser.

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Insta-Dimming, Bullet-Resistant Windows for VIP Cars

A good bullet-resistant ride can do the trick for most VIPs, leaving aside physics-defying assassins and impossible curving bullets. But the U.S. Department of Defense also wants controllable protection against the sun's vicious ultraviolet rays, not to mention prying eyes and sniper scopes.

The DOD has awarded a $425,000 contract to GKN Aerospace for a product that embeds electronically dimming films within armored glass. Such a "SmartShade" would help hide VIPs riding inside armored vehicles.

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Take an Orbital Vacation on a Surplus Soviet Military Spacecraft

Space tourists with deep pockets and dreams of recapturing Cold War nostalgia need look no further than Excalibur Almaz. The new company is asking $35 million for a weeklong stay aboard a Soviet-era military spacecraft.

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BAE Laser Dazzle System enlisted to stop Somali pirates

The United Kingdom's Daily Express reported that a new Laser Dazzle System from BAE Systems (Farnborough, Hampshire, England) was unveiled at DSEi 2009, the Defence Systems & Equipment International show in London, England. The Laser Dazzle system is one of several technologies designed to counter the threat posed by Somali pirates off East Africa.

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Segway inventor takes aim at thirst with Slingshot

If you listen to inventor Dean Kamen, the biggest health problem facing the world today is not AIDS, obesity or malnutrition. It's a shortage of water.

the forward-thinking inventor and his team at DEKA Research in Manchester, New Hampshire, aren't sitting around waiting for the world's wells to dry up. They've been working on an invention they say can tap into 97 percent of the world's undrinkable water.

It's called the Slingshot, and it's a portable, low energy machine that is designed to purify water in remote villages.

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Fate Of Second F-35 Engine Nears

The fate of the F136 alternate engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will be the central issue of debate when House and Senate negotiators meet in conference late this month or early in October to finalize the fiscal 2010 U.S. defense budget.

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Eliminating Punctures in Military Tyres

OKO Puncture Free Tyre sealant is the most cost effective method for eliminating the puncture threat to Military tyres.OKO Puncture Free Concentrate seals larger holesand is capable of sealing several holes simultaneously. Essentially, punctures are sealed instantaneously, permanently – as you drive. There is no need for the vehicle to stop, whether it is a Land Rover, a Snatch or Drops vehicle.

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Superfast Wi-Fi Standard 'n' Official

A new standard for Wi-Fi communication, 802.11n, is now official paving the way for faster, more reliable, and more efficient wireless networks. That means improvements to streaming of HD content, better performance for applications running on a Wi-Fi network such as VoIP, and longer laptop batter life given 802.11n chips use less power.

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So Long CPU Wars

The Great Chip Wars, as we’ve come to know them, ended this week — courtesy of a new marketing campaign from Advanced Micro Devices.

AMD has decided to sell its products under the Vision banner, a slogan that emphasizes the strengths of its graphics chip instead of promoting the abilities of its CPUs, or traditional workhorse chips. PC makers and retailers will promote three flavors of AMD-based computers, called See, Share and Create models.

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Lunar lander rising again

Video-game millionaire John Carmack is aiming to wina million dollars of NASA's money when he and his Armadillo Aerospace teammates take the field this weekend for the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. And the way he sees it, the biggest thing standing in his way is an obstacle that's become quite familiar to NASA's space jockeys of late: the weather.

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Boeing pitches OV-10X Bronco for USAF light attack

Boeing confirms it has proposed building new OV-10s with upgraded avionics and weapons for the US Air Force light attack contract.

The OV-10 could face competition from other Vietnam-era light attack aircraft, such as the Piper Aircraft PA-48 Enforcer. A new class of turboprop fighter-trainers, such as the AT-6 and the Embraer Super Tucano are also vying for the contract.

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NIST creates new trace explosives standard

The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology says it has created a new trace explosives standard designed for homeland security use.

Officials said the new standard consists of four different test substances designed to simulate trace residues of C-4 plastic, gunpowder and TNT explosives.

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Study exposes how bacteria resist antibiotics

Scientists have discovered how bacteria fend off a wide range of antibiotics, and blocking that defense mechanism could give existing antibiotics more power to fight dangerous infections.

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Superscanner sees into the unknown

Nanotom, the most advanced 3D X-ray micro Computed Tomography (CT) scanner in the world, will help scientists from a wide variety of departments across the University literally see through solids. The machine will make previously difficult and laborious research much easier as it allows researchers to probe inside objects without having to break into them.

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MU engineers develop safer, blast-resistant glass

To protect from potential terrorist attacks, federal buildings and other critical infrastructures are made with special windows that contain blast-resistant glass. However, the glass is thick and expensive. Currently, University of Missouri researchers are developing and testing a new type of blast-resistant glass that will be thinner, lighter and less vulnerable to small-scale explosions.

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Using Nanotubes in Computer Chips

MIT materials scientists have developed a new technique for growing carbon nanotubes that could replace the vertical wires in chips, permitting denser packing of circuits.

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Panasonic: New LED bulbs shine for 19 years

Panasonic has launched a new household LED lightbulb in Japan that it says lasts 40 times longer than incandescent bulbs.

The screw-in bulbs are part of the EverLed line, and they're scheduled to hit stores in Japan on October 21.

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Hard Drives offer 2 TB capacity

WD (NYSE:WDC) today announced that it is now shipping desktop 7200 RPM 2 TB hard drives and is qualifying with OEMs enterprise-class hard drives based on WD's 500 gigabytes-per-platter technology. The popular family of WD Caviar Black drives, now led by the new 2 TB capacity, is perfect for gaming, high-performance desktop systems and workstations.

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Coating protects against graffiti

A team of researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research in Potsdam has developed a new breathable coating that provides buildings with protection against graffiti.

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Image-guided surgery

A new image-guided surgical instrument system that is currently under development in the US will be able to pinpoint the place that surgeons should make an incision on patients who have scar tissue.

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Researchers Claim to Cook Up Isolated Magnetic Poles

Te magnetic monopole. Magnetism's answer to electricity's negatively charged electron, a monopole would be a free-floating carrier of either magnetic north or magnetic south—a yin unbound from its yang.A pair of papers published online this week in Science offer experimental evidence that such monopoles do in fact exist, albeit not as electron-like elementary particles, a caveat that one self-professed purist says disqualifies them from genuine monopole status.

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DNA Barcoding

The authors propose that a segment of mitochondrial DNA can distinguish animal species. They imagine a day when a hand­­­­­held scanner (similar to a GPS device) will link to a database of the barcodes of all species. Then, by in­serting a snippet of tissue into the scanner, anyone can get an instant identification of a creature or plant.

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Laser propulsion powers next-generation aerospacecraft

In contrast to the Space Elevator concept, in which high-power continuous-wave lasers beam light to photovoltaic cells attached to a vehicle that rides into space on a cable at relatively slow 5 m/s speeds, beamed-energy propulsion (BEP) focuses a megawatt-level peak-power laser on a propellant onboard a next-generation nano-satellite launcher to boost a kilogram of payload into low-Earth orbit.

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Instavest Body Armour and Boltfree Ballistic Helmets Demonstrated by MKU at DSEi

Lightweight armour manufacturers and suppliers like MKU are able to offer personal protection solutions in large numbers and at short notice. At the DSEi exhibition (stand 1924), MKU will be displaying a range of its lightweight personal armour solutions, many already in service, including its instant-release Instavest body armour and its Boltfree helmet range, and briefing military procurers and end users on its range of capabilities.

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Novel Way to Cool Data Centers Passes First Test

The Lawrence Berkeley engineers, working with Intel, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Emerson Network Power, have been experimenting with a way to deliver just the right amount of cooling to computing equipment.

They fed temperature readings from sensors that are built into most modern servers directly into the data-center building controls, allowing the air conditioning system to keep the facility at just the right temperature to cool the servers.

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Google plans new mirror for solar power

Google is disappointed with the lack of breakthrough investment ideas in the green technology sector but the company is working to develop its own new mirror technology that could reduce the cost of building solar thermal plants by a quarter or more.

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Raytheon Unveils SPY-5

Raytheon has developed a new naval radar - AN/SPY-5, a multitracking, target-illuminating system for surface combatants that can simultaneously search, detect and precisely track multiple surface and air threats.

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