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A miniature device that scans deep below ground is being developed to identify ice deposits and hollow lava tubes on the moon for possible human settlement. The prototype device, known as MAPrad, is just one-tenth the size of existing ground penetrating radar systems, yet can see almost twice as deeply below ground—more than 100 meters down—to identify minerals, ice deposits, or voids such as lava tubes. Local start-up CD3D PTY Limited has now received a grant from the Australian Space Agency's moon to Mars initiative to further develop the prototype with RMIT University, including testing it by mapping one of...

Rutgers-led study demonstrates low-cost technology for security screening at public venues like stadiums, theme parks and schoolsOrdinary WiFi can easily detect weapons, bombs and explosive chemicals in bags at museums, stadiums, theme parks, schools and other public venues, according to a Rutgers University–New Brunswick-led study. The researchers’ suspicious object detection system is easy to set up, reduces security screening costs and avoids invading privacy such as when screeners open and inspect bags, backpacks and luggage. Traditional screening typically requires high staffing levels and costly specialized equipment. “This could have a great impact in protecting the public from dangerous objects,” said...

A medical test being developed by Kuwait will be used to 'detect' homosexuals and prevent them from entering the country – or any of the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC), according to a Kuwaiti government official. GCC member countries – Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – already deem homosexual acts unlawful. This controversial stance is being toughened, with members of the LGBT community stopped at the border and banned from entering the country, according to Yousouf Mindkar, the director of public health at the Kuwaiti health ministry.

The weird world of quantum mechanics describes the strange, often contradictory, behaviour of small inanimate objects such as atoms. Researchers have now started looking for ways to detect quantum properties in more complex and larger entities, possibly even living organisms. A German-Spanish research group, split between the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Garching and the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), is using the principles of an iconic quantum mechanics thought experiment - Schrödinger's superpositioned cat – to test for quantum properties in objects composed of as many as one billion atoms, possibly including the flu virus. New research...

A butterfly species equipped with tiny ears on its wings can distinguish between high and low pitch sounds, possibly as a way to listen in on nearby birds, new research suggests. Scientists thought butterflies were deaf until 1912 when the first butterfly ears were identified. Only in the past decade or so have researchers examined the anatomy and physiology of butterfly ears, which they are finding to be quite diverse and present in several butterfly species. The latest discovery was made with the blue morpho butterfly (Morpho peleides), which dazzles with its bright-blue wing coloration when it flits about in...

Finding Terrestrial Worlds in the Dust October 13th, 2008 Computer simulations are showing us how to detect the signature of Earth-like planets — indeed, planets nearly as small as Mars — around other stars. That interesting news comes out of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, where a supercomputer named Thunderbird has been put to work studying dusty disks around stars similar to the Sun. Varying the size of the dust particles along with the mass and orbital distance of the planet, the team led by Christopher Stark (University of Maryland) ran 120 different simulations. “It isn’t widely appreciated that planetary...

US spy satellites detect N Korea's nuclear moves By Colin Joyce in Tokyo and Richard Spencer in Beijing (Filed: 05/10/2006) The United States has detected activity in North Korea indicating possible preparations for an underground nuclear test. Spy satellites have picked up unusual movement of vehicles at potential test sites, although an American official said it did prove that a test was imminent. Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe: the North Korean issue is expected to dominate his visits to China and South Korea The images were seen the day after North Korea said it would conduct its first test, a...

An Iraqi Army Soldier crouches low while running to a covering position during a "Capstone" engineer training exercise. Department of Defense photo by Army Staff Sgt. Kevin Lovel, 363rd MPAD. CAMP LIBERTY -- Engineer soldiers from the 6th Iraqi Army Division proved their prowess on the latest methods of route clearance, patrolling and improvised-explosive device detection during “Capstone” training conducted by U.S. Soldiers from Multi-National Division - Baghdad’s 16th Engineer Brigade. The ability of IA engineers to fight terrorism and keep the roads safe for local residents is important for the future of the Iraq, said Sgt. 1st Class Richard...

WASHINGTON - The government sought to assure airline travelers Tuesday that X-raying shoes at security checkpoints was a reliable way of detecting improvised bombs, a claim contradicted by a Department of Homeland Security study. "Screening shoes by X-ray is an effective way of identifying any anomaly, including explosives," said Kip Hawley, Transportation Security Administration chief, at a news conference at Reagan National Airport just outside Washington. A study by the Homeland Security Department, obtained by The Associated Press, states that X-ray images "do not provide the information necessary to effect detection of explosives." Under new orders this week, all airline...

DNA test can detect Picts' descendants By Auslan Cramb, Scottish Correspondent (Filed: 14/08/2006) A geneticist has created a DNA test for "Scottishness" that will tell people whether they are direct descendants of the Picts. The test, expected to cost about £130, checks a sample of saliva against 27 genetic markers linked to some of the earliest inhabitants of Scotland. Dr Jim Wilson, of the public health sciences department at Edinburgh University, said: "We started this work a few years ago, looking at the Norse component, and we proved that a large proportion of people on Orkney are descended from Vikings....

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A radiation sensor inside a cell phone was used with a network of tiny computers spread out around Vanderbilt Stadium on Thursday to detect a fake radioactive "dirty bomb." The experiment was a test of a system that could represent a leap forward in homeland security technology, said researchers from Vanderbilt University and Oak Ridge National Laboratory who have been working jointly on the project. On Thursday they set their equipment up in the stadium press box and watched as a red dot moved across their computer screens. The dot represented the real-time movements of researcher Janos...

Scientists announced today new evidence supporting the theory that the infant universe expanded from subatomic to astronomical size in a fraction of a second after its birth. The finding is based on new results from NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) satellite, launched in 2001 to measure the temperature of radiant heat left over from the Big Bang, which is the theoretical beginning to the universe. This radiation is known as the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), and it is the oldest light in the universe. Using WMAP data, researchers announced in 2003 that they had pieced together a very detailed...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5, 2006 – The president's terrorist surveillance program serves the purpose of gathering intelligence against terrorists wishing to attack the United States, the nation's No. 2 intelligence officer said in appearances on Sunday morning talk shows. "This is focused on al Qaeda," said Air Force Gen. Michael V. Hayden, principal deputy director of national intelligence and former director of the National Security Agency, during a "Fox News Sunday" interview. "The only justification we have to undertake this program is to detect and prevent attacks against the United States." Through the president's authorization of the program, the NSA can...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Astronomers said on Monday they have detected a cosmic explosion at the very edge of the visible universe, a 13-billion-year-old blast that could help them learn more about the earliest stars. The brilliant blast -- known as a gamma ray burst -- was probably caused by the death of a massive star soon after the Big Bang, but was glimpsed on September 4 by NASA's new Swift satellite and later by ground-based telescopes. The explosion occurred soon after the first stars and galaxies formed, perhaps 500 million to 1 billion years after the Big Bang explosion that...

Just think how eerie it would be, yet also how peaceful - people all around having conversations on their mobile phones, but without uttering a sound. Thanks to some military research, this social nirvana just might come true. DARPA, the US Department of Defense's research agency, is working on a project known as Advanced Speech Encoding, aimed at replacing microphones with non-acoustic sensors that detect speech via the speaker's nerve and muscle activity, rather than sound itself. One system, being developed for DARPA by Rick Brown of Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, relies on a sensor worn around the neck...

Electronic chip to detect Sars John Aglionby in Jakarta Monday October 6, 2003 The Guardian (UK) Singapore hopes to launch in January an electronic chip that will give an almost instant diagnosis of whether a person has Sars, dengue fever, flu or some other respiratory illness. Ren Ee Chee of the government-run Genome Institute of Singapore told the island republic's Sunday Times newspaper that the respiratory pathogens detection chip would undergo testing soon in conjunction with an unnamed US company. Detection probes on the chip, which is about the size of a 10p coin, will analyse saliva or nasal mucus...

The power of a laboratory in a handheld device - that is what the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) will add to its arsenal in two years. The state-of-the-art chip will help SAF troops detect deadly biological agents like anthrax and swiftly diagnose conditions like malaria while in the thick of action. Said Professor Thomas Gong, director of Attogenix Biosystems: "Using this biological lab-in-a-chip or biochip, a soldier will be able to test if his fever is due to the common cold or Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome)." The device can also test whether water from a stream is safe to...

Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a miniature device that can identify as little as a fraction of a spore of anthrax and other biological hazards within 30 milliseconds. The Calorimetric Spectrometer (CalSpec) device technology can accurately identify biological hazards such as anthrax almost instantly. The device can operate with only a fraction of a spore while isolating the DNA/RNA photothermal signature that allows for detection, identification and measurement of a substance. Such prompt detection and identification of hazardous materials could greatly enhance the protection of first-responder emergency personnel and the capabilities of early...

Experts estimate dogs' sense of smell is 1,000 to 100,000 times more sensitive than humans'.   Dog Doctors Training Dogs to Detect Prostate Cancer With Their Noses By Amanda Onion June 11 — Dogs could soon become man's best friend when it comes to detecting prostate cancer if new research plans are successful. <! -- begin print page / send page box --> Researchers at Cambridge University Veterinary School in England are awaiting funding to test the viability of what they call "dognoseis" — detecting the traces of prostate cancer by training dogs to smell signatures of the disease...

Dogs may sniff out some cancers Prostate cancer affects thousands of men each year A pioneering technique using dogs to detect prostate cancer is being developed in Cambridgeshire. Researchers at Cambridge University have applied for funding to test their theory that a dog's sense of smell could provide a better early warning system for some cancers than modern science. They hope to train dogs to react to cancer cells in urine samples, revolutionising the screening process for conditions like prostate cancer. If the university gets funding it will ask professsional dog trainer Charlie Clarricoates, of Soham, Cambridgeshire, to carry out...