BROAD STRATEGIC APPRAISALS

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Comeback of supersonic flight

In the labs and wind tunnels of Cleveland's Glenn Research Center and three other NASA facilities, the prospect of commercial supersonic flight is quietly coming out of mothballs.
Glenn engineers and their counterparts at the Langley, Dryden and Ames research centers are at work devising greener, fuel-efficient and less-polluting supersonic engines.

High-Tech, Armored Off-Roader Key to Afghan Surge

Pentagon is in the middle of a crash program to build and ship to Afghanistan a new generation of bomb-resistant off-road vehicle, equipped with everything from composite armor to “electronic keels.”

Intel Shows 48-Core Processor for Research

Intel showed an 48-core processor nicknamed the “single-chip cloud computer” that consumes about the same power as desktop processors available currently. The fully programmable 48 processing cores are the most Intel has ever had on a single silicon chip, says the company.

World’s Fastest Personal Submarine

The Super Falcon submersible uses its inverted wings to move through water like a plane through air.

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Cheaper, Smaller Network of Spy Satellites Gives Troops on the Ground Their Own Eye in the Sky

With Kestrel Eye satellites, grunts on the ground will be able to check out surrounding terrain from a bird's eye view in near real time.

Dark-field laser mouse works on transparent surfaces

Borrowing dark-field illumination techniques used in microscopy to increase contrast of tiny particulates like dust and surface imperfections such as grease and scratches, Logitech (Fremont, CA) developed a new optical mouse that uses a technique called dark-field laser tracking.

JQI researchers create 'synthetic magnetic fields' for neutral atoms

Achieving an important new capability in ultracold atomic gases, researchers at the Joint Quantum Institute, a collaboration of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Maryland, have created "synthetic" magnetic fields for ultracold gas atoms, in effect "tricking" neutral atoms into acting as if they are electrically charged particles subjected to a real magnetic field.

Practical T-Ray Amplifier

Terahertz sensors can see through clothing and sniff for bombs, but they've had to do so with very weak signals.

Terahertz radiation, which is generated by ultrashort-duration lasers, is often weak, and it is difficult to amplify the terahertz signal without using large, complex, and costly laser systems.

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USAF Growing Cyber Warfare Ops Center

The newly-created 24th U.S. Air Force, the service’s latest numbered force, aims to establish the first elements of a cyberspace command operations center in San Antonio by the end of December.

Desert Prowler Unveiled

A photograph of the Beast of Kandahar, the classified stealth UAV first reported in April, has emerged on a blog linked to left-wing French newspaper Liberation.

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ICBMs Shift to New USAF Command

U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) took a concrete step toward fulfilling its mission of operating two-thirds of the Pentagon's nuclear triad when it took command Dec. 1 of 20th Air Force and its 450 Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles.

US Army Wants 120mm GPS-Guided Mortars to Fight Afghan Insurgents

The US Army is pushing to get precision mortars developed and deployed to the field in Afghanistan as soon as possible. The precision mortars are needed to target insurgents who are dug in along mountain ridgelines and other high positions.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Nanoparticles Can Now Withstand Extreme Heat

Scientists have been trying to produce metallic nanoparticles able to withstand large temperatures for a long time, but their efforts have thus far been in vein. These small structures could come in handy as catalysts for hydrogen production, or as active components in new catalysts systems, which might see cars emit less pollution than they do now. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have just demonstrated high-temperature stability in nanoparticles for the first time, opening the way for these applications to finally be set into motion.

Optical pressure sensors give robots the human touch

ARTIFICIAL skin embedded with optical sensors could help robots develop a more human touch.
Existing sensors, such as those based on simple pressure switches and motor resistance, are limited in their ability to detect subtle changes in pressure and to distinguish between different textures. A key reason for this is the electrical components and wires they are made from tend to be inflexible.

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French scientists create skin fast from stem cells

French scientists have found a way to create human skin rapidly from stem cells, a discovery that could save the lives of many burns victims who are vulnerable to infection and now wait weeks for a skin graft.

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Innovation puts next-generation solar cells on the horizon

Scientists at Monash University, in collaboration with colleagues fromthe universities of Wollongong and Ulm in Germany, have produced tandem dye-sensitised solar cells with a three-fold increase in energy conversion efficiency compared with previously reported tandem dye-sensitised solar cells.

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Mathematical model of a simple circuit in a chicken brain raises fundamental questions

Model circuit (right) duplicates the anatomy of the chicken microcircuit studied in Ralf Wessel's WUSTL lab (left). The complexity of the neuron's response arises from feedback loops in the circuit.

Taiwanese researchers show several flexible e-reader screens

Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) showed off a number of flexible display screen technologies in Taipei on Thursday as part of a show promoting e-readers and e-paper.

New Microscope Reveals the Shape of Atoms

Improved field-emission microscope images electron orbitals, confirming their theoretical shapes

Researchers have now managed to image the electron orbitals and show for the first time that, in a sense, atoms really look like those textbook images.

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Astronauts Want a Next-Gen Ride 10 Times Safer Than the Shuttle

Astronauts say the next crew launch vehicle should have disaster odds of just 1 in 1,000

NASA's Astronaut Office wants the next vehicle carrying astronauts into space to have launch disaster odds of just 1 in 1,000, compared to the 1 in 129 odds of a shuttle launch disaster. It also wants the vehicle to have crew escape or launch abort capability, to meet NASA's human-rating safety standards, and to undergo thorough testing and analysis with independent oversight.

TenCate Advanced Armour Introduces New Variations of TenCate Pro-Tector®

TenCate Pro-Tector® is a proprietary coated ballistic technology based on aramid fibres currently available, combined with a variation of resin systems. This results in a flexible, lightweight, high-performance material, mostly intended for use in personal protection solutions.

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LED Bulbs Save Substantial Energy, a Study Finds

The study results show that over the entire life of the bulb — from manufacturing to disposal — the energy used for incandescent bulbs is almost five times that used for compact fluorescents and LED lamps.

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Robotic clam could detonate underwater mines

Inspired by the amazing ability of the small clam to dig and wedge itself far deeper and more securely than would be thought, researchers developed a robotic clam that moves the same way and can detonate hidden mines.

Raytheon's Rolling Airframe Missile Completes Key Flight Tests

Raytheon's Rolling Airframe Missile Block 2 successfully completed three instrumented test vehicle flights between April and October designed to demonstrate the system's upgraded kinematic capabilities.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Device spells doom for superbugs

Researchers have demonstrated a prototype device that can rid hands, feet, or even underarms of bacteria, including the hospital superbug MRSA.
The device works by creating something called a plasma, which produces a cocktail of chemicals in air that kill bacteria but are harmless to skin.

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Nanowires key to future transistors, electronics

Researchers are closer to using tiny devices called semiconducting nanowires to create a new generation of ultrasmall transistors and more powerful computer chips. The researchers have grown the nanowires with sharply defined layers of silicon and germanium, offering better transistor performance.

Robotic surgeon

The robot in question is the da Vinci Surgical System.

A mass of mechanical joints wrapped in transparent sheeting, the da Vinci is a spider-like unit the size of a double fridge, with four overhanging limbs.

CROSSHAIRS to protect vehicles against bullets, RPGs

DARPA has ordered a new system that could make taking a shot at the U.S. military's 38-ton sitting ducks just a little more problematic.

CROSSHAIRS (Counter Rocket-Propelled Grenade and Shooter System with Highly Accurate Immediate Responses) is a modular, vehicle-mounted, threat detection and countermeasure system that locates and engages enemy shooters.

Turning Seaweed into the Fuel of the Future

Seaweed holds promise as more than an ingredient in a purifying face mask or a maki roll.
So say researchers at E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., which alongside Seattle-based Bio Architecture Lab (BAL) has secured $9 million from the Department of Energy to explore seaweed's potential as a feedstock for biobutanol, an advanced biofuel.

High-Pressure Diamond Anvil Creates a New Solid from Xenon and Hydrogen

Science under pressure can produce marvelous results, such as an entirely new way to store hydrogen fuel. Researchers combined the noble gas xenon with molecular hydrogen (H2) to make a never-before-seen solid that opens the doors to an entire new family of materials for hydrogen storage.

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