Science and Enterprise

Tag: DoD

  • FDA Approves Portable Device to Spot Brain Bleeding

    The Food and Drug Administration approved last week a hand-held device designed to detect bleeding in the skull, a life-threatening condition. The device, called the Infrascanner, is based on research conducted at University of Pennsylvania and Baylor College of Medicine, and funded in part by the U.S. Office of Naval Research. The Infrascanner detects intracranial…

  • Google Granted Patent for Autonomous Vehicle Technology

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded a patent to Google Inc. in Mountain View, California for its technology that enables cars to switch from driver to driver-less mode. Patent number 8,078,349 — entitled “Transitioning a mixed-mode vehicle to autonomous mode” — was awarded on 13 December. The patent covers the processes and devices for…

  • Commercial TB Tests Turn Up High False-Positive Rates

    Tests of three commercially available tests to diagnose the presence of latent tuberculosis turned up false positive results in a majority of positive cases on at least one of the tests. James Mancuso of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, with colleagues from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and Otsuka Pharmaceuticals,…

  • OriginOil, National Lab to Collaborate on Biomass Standards

    OriginOil Inc. an algae fuel developer in Los Angeles, signed a research agreement with the Idaho National Lab, part of the U.S. Department of Energy, to establish industry standards for algal biomass. Standards for fuels from biomass are considered a an important step in making algal biofuels a competitive alternative to petroleum. The company says…

  • Senate Passes SBIR/STTR Reauthorization in DoD Funding Bill

    The U.S. Senate yesterday passed a reauthorization of the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR and STTR) programs through 2019. The reauthorization of the SBIR and STTR programs were included in the larger Department of Defense authorization for the current 2012 fiscal year that began on 1 October. The bill passed…

  • U.S. Navy Developing Common Radar for Surface Ships

    The U.S. Navy is developing a new common radar architecture for surface ships, which it hopes will provide modern capabilities using commercially-available technologies. The Office of Naval Research (ONR) says the Affordable Common Radar Architecture is designed to replace multiple legacy systems with an open design that encourages more competition among industry providers. The goal…

  • University, Company Partner on Contraband Nuclear Detector

    Researchers at University of New Hampshire in Durham and Michigan Aerospace Corporation in Ann Arbor have received a contract from the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency to build an instrument to accurately detect illicit radioactive materials from a safe distance. The one-year contract of $303,000 calls for a realistic field test of the device in…

  • Two-Legged Robot Developed with Running Ability

    Engineers at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor have developed a bipedal robot with the ability to run as well as walk. MABEL, as the robot is called, is funded by the National Science Foundation and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. MABEL was first developed in 2008 as a collaboration between Michigan’s Jessy Grizzle, a…

  • Army Seeking Energy Harvesters for Foot Soldiers and Squads

    The U.S. Army’s Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center in Natick, Massachusetts wants ideas for energy sources that soldiers can carry around to power the sensors and other electronic devices needed to carry out their missions. The deadline for concept papers on this topic is 31 August. The Natick center notes that the soldiers will…

  • Researchers Find New Properties in an Old Material

    Researchers at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg have devised a way to measure and manipulate the internal structure of Nafion, a common polymer, to expand the material’s applications. The research chemists’ results are published in the 19 June issue of the journal Nature Materials (paid subscription required). Nafion was developed in the 1960s by DuPont, and…