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More on the danger of GPS spoofing
The military version of GPS includes security features such as encryption, but civilian signals are transmitted in the clear, unencrypted; a suitcase-size transmitting device can easily fool a GPS receiver; the power grid may be disrupted, and ankle-bracelet-wearing criminals walk about freely
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Invisibility cloak as a protection against tsunamis
Rather than fortifying sea platforms and coastal towns to withstand tsunamis, it may be possible to use invisibility cloaks to make off-shore platforms, islands, and even cities “invisible” to waves
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Northrop tests Guardian anti-missile system
On 8-9 September, Northrop Grumman successfully tested the Guardian anti-missile system; from heights exceeding 50,000 feet, the system successfully detected, tracked, and directed a laser to intercept a target missile
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Briefly noted
Smart cluster bomb hunts down targets… Anthrax-case documents reveal bizarre Ivins’s behavior… New FISMA bill receives committee OK… L-1 in $5.9 million Mississippi driver’s license contract…
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More debate about how best to defend Earth against asteroids
U.C. Berkeley expert says protecting Earth against incoming asteroids “is not an astronomy problem. It is a financial problem, an accounting problem, an international problem, an organizational problem, a political problem”
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Terminating the terminators: Anti-robot defense company launched
Dot.com 1.0 wonder boy Ben Way launches a company dedicated to anti-robot defense systems; unmanned systems proliferate on and above the battlefield, and more and more of these systems are endowed with autonomous life-and-death decision making capabilities; Way says he wants to make “sure we have control over our own weaponry”
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U.S. military to be offered flying hover bike
An innovative Virginia company says its flying — or hovering — bike may be suitable for military missions; the machine offers vertical takeoff, range, and largely hands-off autopiloting
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Small robotic drones to join Air Force's arsenal
Micro Air Vehicles, or MAVs, will add surveillance capabilities to the military and law enforcements; scientists have studied the flight of fruit flies, the crawling of insects, and the perching of birds as they look for ideas for smaller and more effective surveillance machines, and MAVs are one result of these studies
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Three companies compete for a long-endurance UAV concept
DARPA’s quest for a long-endurance surveillance UAV — “long endurance” means staying in the air for five years — is not yet a reality, but it is no longer regarded as a pipe dream
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Using quantum physics to make better detectors
MIT researcher shows how entanglement, a peculiar property of quantum physics, may be harnessed for surveillance systems which are as much as a million times more efficient than existing systems
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Flame-retardant grenades help firefighters, first responders
Most hand-held fire extinguishers are pressurized with nitrogen or carbon dioxide to propel powdery potassium bicarbonate, liquid water, or a fluorocarbon at a fire; new device, using potassium carbonate, quells blazes with less risk to firefighters
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Yucca Mountain project clears another hurdle
The Yucca Mountain nuclear storage project moves forward, as NRC says it would conduct an in-depth review of the government plans
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U.S. start-up develops uncloneable RFID chips
Silicon Valley start-up says it has developed RFID chips which cannot be cloned; the company uses technology called Physically Unclonable Functions (PUF) which was developed by researchers at MIT
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New chemical radar among national security innovations in ACS podcast
The American Chemical Society wants to do its share to bolster societal safety — and a new series of an the organization-sponsored podcasts describe an array of technologies to help assure personal safety and national security
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Anti-invisibility cloak would render invisible objects visible again
A perfect invisibility cloak guides rays so effectively that none reaches the cloaked object within, keeping it in total darkness — a disadvantage if invisibility cloaks are ever to be used to shield tanks, steer microwaves in space, or hide humans; scientists find a solution
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