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… [A] simple, inexpensive, portable device that could produce hydrogen peroxide continuously from just air, water, and electricity, providing a way to sterilize wounds, food-preparation surfaces, and even water supplies. Even at low concentrations, hydrogen peroxide is an effective antibacterial agent, and after carrying out its sterilizing function it breaks down into plain water, in contrast to other agents such as chlorine that can leave unwanted byproducts from its production and use. Hydrogen peroxide is just water with an extra oxygen atom tacked on—it's H2O2, instead of H2O. That extra oxygen is relatively loosely bound, making it a highly reactive...

The security guards of the Defense Ministry's Transfer Authority and the Civil Administration's David division stopped a truck traveling from Hevron to Gaza at the Turkarmiya checkpoint Monday, after it noted it was shipping soybean oil. [...] The shipment was sent to a lab for testing, where it became clear the "soybean oil" was TDI - turbocharged direct injection - material, the fuel primarily used for rockets and diesel engines. ...

U.S. Air Force scientists have performed their own rocket propellant test without contractor assistance and eye continued in-house experimentation. The Armed Forces News Service reported that officials at the Air Force Research Laboratory said the 3-second, 15-pound Ballistic Test and Evaluation System, in which a small-scale apparatus is used to test rocket propellant and designs in a standardized rocket motor casing, yielded extraordinary amount of data due to new high-speed digital video cameras used for recording it. "What's special about this test is that it was entirely in-house," said 1st. Lt. Rob Antypas, the AFRL program manager and a developmental...

WASHINGTON -- The Environmental Protection Agency says there's no need to rid drinking water of a toxic rocket fuel ingredient that has fouled water supplies around the country, including in California. The EPA's conclusion is in a draft document not yet made public but reviewed Monday by the Associated Press.

French connection armed Saddam By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES The United States stood by for years as supposed allies helped its enemies obtain the world's most dangerous weapons, reveals Bill Gertz, defense and national security reporter for The Washington Times, in the new book "Treachery" (Crown Forum). In this excerpt, he details France's persistence in arming Saddam Hussein. First of three excerpts New intelligence revealing how long France continued to supply and arm Saddam Hussein's regime infuriated U.S. officials as the nation prepared for military action against Iraq. The intelligence reports showing French assistance to Saddam ongoing in the...

Preliminary research shows traces of a rocket fuel ingredient in milk across California, prompting a debate about safety standards for the pervasive pollutant perchlorate. In a report to be released today, the Environmental Working Group said its samples of supermarket milk generally confirm unpublished tests done by the California Department of Food and Agriculture, which in April sampled milk at a few dozen processors statewide. Both the state and the Environmental Working Group said adults and children should keep drinking milk - which offers calcium and important vitamins - because little is known about risks of perchlorate in milk.

Scientists are divided about the use of the Moon as a base to develop ways to travel to Mars, according to reports given to the US government. Some have said the possibility of water-ice existing at the lunar poles would allow a moonbase to use the ice as rocket fuel for a Mars mission. Others contend that it would be too difficult to extract. And there is disagreement about whether the moon is a good alternative to space as a base for advanced telescopes. In January, President Bush redirected the US space effort sending astronauts back to the Moon and...

<p>Nearly 50 years after its discovery in Sacramento County drinking water supplies, a hazardous component of solid rocket fuel is on its way to becoming a state-regulated water contaminant.</p> <p>California environmental officials Thursday announced a public health goal for perchlorate, a component of solid rocket fuel deemed essential to national defense but a threat to the nation's water supplies.</p>

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland has been given the nod to lead a robotic lunar mission in 2008 -- a key step in President George W. Bush’s recently announced space vision strategy. The lunar reconnaissance orbiter would likely be geared to investigate the potential for water ice trapped at the Moon’s poles. This type of investigation may involve powerful radar to scan the always darkened craters, thought by some scientists to contain bountiful quantities of water ice. Water ice is believed to have been brought to the Moon by impacting comets. Both NASA’s Lunar Prospector and the...

A METAL drum found in Iraq that initially tested positive for a nerve agent could in fact contain rocket fuel, a US expert has said. Two mobile chemical laboratories found nearby might also have been used for mixing the fuel and not making banned weapons, the chief chemical weapons officer of the 4th Infantry Division added. Further tests on the tan 209-litre drum were expected in the coming days, said Lieutenant Colonel Valentin Novikov. Initial tests showed that the contents of the barrel tested positive for the nerve agent cyclosarin and a blister agent that could be a precursor of...