Scientific American

In the Fog of Battle Acoustic Sensors Pinpoint Gunfire by Measuring Air Movement

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EST

Sensors originally designed to alert pilots of single-engine planes to the location of nearby aircraft are instead finding a military role locating unseen battle threats as far away as 40 kilometers. [More]

When Everybody Starts Wearing Smartglasses, Google Won t Be the Only Player

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EST

Google Glass is just the beginning. The search giant’s smartglasses are in the headlines, but numerous other players are also looking to cash in on what’s expected to be a boom in eyewear that puts virtual and augmented reality face-front. [More]

Crash Course: Training the Brain of a Driverless Car

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 07:00:00 EST

Early attempts at driverless cars have had little difficulty gathering the loads of data required to operate autonomously. Automakers and researchers--at Google, most notably-- have logged hundreds of thousands of kilometers driven in vehicles laden with Internet servers, GPS, radar, lasers, cameras and a variety of other onboard sensors. The results are encouraging : Self-driven vehicles have demonstrated the ability to measure and maintain their distance from other automobiles and even obey traffic laws. [More]

Fashion Statement: Designer Creates Line of Drone-Proof Garments to Protect Privacy

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 06:30:00 EST

As the U.S. government draws up plans to use surveillance drones in domestic airspace, opposition to what many consider an unwarranted and significant invasion of privacy is mounting across the country, from rural Virginia to techopolis Seattle. Although officials debate anti-drone legislation at federal, state and local levels, one man is fighting back with high-tech apparel. [More]

Injectable Foam Blocks Internal Bleeding on the Battlefield

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 07:00:00 EST

Despite their best efforts to stabilize abdominal wounds sustained on the battlefield, military first-responders have few options when it comes to stanching internal bleeding caused by, for example, gunshots or explosive fragments. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) says it is studying a new type of injectable foam that molds to organs and slows hemorrhaging. This could provide field medics with a way to buy more time for soldiers en route to medical treatment facilities. [More]

How to Survive an Avalanche: Skier s Air Bag

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 07:00:00 EST

Every winter the allure of skiing on deep, untracked mountain snow attracts skiers to backcountry areas. Yet the thrill of skiing in an off-the-beaten-path bowl with waist-deep powder comes with a risk of being caught in a dangerous, potentially life-threatening avalanche . [More]

Rocket Man: Land-Speed Racer Pushes 1,000 MpH Barrier [Slide Show]

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 07:00:00 EST

An English racing team called the Bloodhound Project is a step closer to breaking the land-speed record--not just by 150 or even 300 kilometers (100 or 200 miles) per hour. The English team--the favorite to succeed in a field of at least five competitors--successfully tested a rocket in early October that is expected to help push its car to 1,600 kph (1,000 mph), nearly 500 kph (300 mph) faster than the previous mark. [More]

Wrist Device Makes Controlling Gadgets a Snap [Video]

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 07:30:00 EST

Microsoft's Kinect technology lets gamers kick a virtual soccer ball or ride a digital skateboard using natural movements rather than a controller. Yet it can detect and interpret only full-body motion--it is relatively clueless about interpreting the movements of smaller body parts such as fingers. Now Microsoft researchers are developing a wrist-worn sensor to control video games--along with mobile phones, tablets, computers and TVs--with a flick of the wrist or snap of the fingers. [More]

Remote-Controlled Roaches to the Rescue? [Video]

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 07:00:00 EST

The robot in WALL-E may have befriended a cockroach, but humans are more likely to react with revulsion than joy at the sight of one. Would you feel differently, however, if you were trapped in a collapsed building or mine, and rescuers had sent a cockroach in to find you? A team of researchers says it can harness the cockroach's uncanny survivability in ways that might someday benefit humanity. [More]

Forget Passwords: How Playing Games Can Make Computers More Secure

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 07:00:00 EST

It seems like something out of a Robert Ludlum spy novel. Someone tries to coerce you into revealing your computer security passwords . You might be tempted to give in, but it is impossible for you to reveal your authentication credentials . You do not actually know them because they are safely buried deep within your subconscious. [More]

Snap Judgment: Ultrafast Camera Renews Promise of Blood Test for Early Cancer Detection

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 04:00:00 EST

Cells that break away from a cancerous tumor and circulate in the bloodstream are a serious threat to helping cancer spread, or metastasize, throughout the body. Finding these circulating tumor cells (CTCs), however, can be like searching for a particular needle in a stack of needles . One milliliter of blood contains about five billion red blood cells, 10 million white blood cells and only 10 tumor cells. [More]

Vapor Trail: Electronic Noses Sniff Bad Breath for Signs of Disease

Mon, 30 Jul 2012 06:00:00 EST

If the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates diagnosed you with fetor hepaticus (bad liver breath), it would not be an insult but a friendly warning. It meant the scent of your breath indicated you were going into liver failure. Much of ancient Greek medical knowledge has fallen into obscurity, but using the breath as an indicator of health remains. Researchers have for years worked to develop accurate, inexpensive and portable electronic olfactory sensing technology that can be used to detect and monitor asthma , kidney disease , high cholesterol and a number of other conditions. [More]

Implantable Devices Could Detect and Halt Epileptic Seizures

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 07:00:00 EST

Epilepsy affects some 2.7 million Americans--more than Parkinson’s disease , multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease) combined. More than half of patients can achieve seizure control with treatment, yet almost a third of people with epilepsy have a refractory form of the disease that does not respond well to existing antiepileptic drugs. Nor are these patients typically helped by the one implanted device--Cyberonics' Vagus Nerve Stimulator (VNS) --that has had U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for treatment of epilepsy since 1997. [More]

Blade Runner: 18-Rotor "Volocopter" Moving from Concept to Prototype

Mon, 25 Jun 2012 07:00:00 EST

Inventor and physicist Thomas Senkel created an Internet sensation with the October 2011 video of his maiden--and only--test flight of a spidery proof-of-concept 16-rotor helicopter dubbed Multicopter 1. Now the maker of the experimental personal aviation craft, the European start-up e-volo, is back with a revised "volocopter" design that adds two more rotors, a serial hybrid drive and long-term plans for going to 100 percent battery power. [More]

Impermanent Press: New Deformable Surface to Give Smart Phone Touch Screens Raised Tactile Keyboards

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 07:00:00 EST

Today you have to choose: Blackberry-style keypad or the touch screen of iPhone and others. Keypads provide handy tactile feedback and are durable, but the keys are small and cut down the screen size. The dynamic keypads of touch-sensitive screens let you easily summon or dismiss letters, numbers or symbols, but the lack of well-defined keys make accuracy challenging, and typing on a flat surface is less pleasing for some users. Add-on keypads can be snapped onto touch-screen phones, of course, but add bulk. [More]

Shooting beyond the Moon: "Part-Time" Scientists Aim to Develop Autonomous Rover to Compete for Lunar X PRIZE

Wed, 23 May 2012 12:00:00 EST

Some people try to make the most of their spare time by exercising, volunteering or simply recharging their batteries. Others like to use that time to build robots that can be blasted to the moon and then set free to roam the lunar landscape. A group of engineers and researchers calling themselves Team Part-Time Scientists have chosen the latter, and are building a moon rover named Asimov they hope will win the coveted Google Lunar X PRIZE by early 2014. [More]