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Breaking science and technology news. Daily science and technology news from around the World.
Supercomputers Break Petaflop Barrier, Transforming Science
By Betsy Mason | A new crop of supercomputers is breaking down the petaflop speed barrier, pushing high-performance computing into a new realm that could change science more profoundly than at any time since Galileo,
Read More »NewScientist: Packs of robots will hunt down uncooperative humans
NewScientist | The latest request from the Pentagon jars the senses. At least, it did mine. They are looking for contractors to provide a “Multi-Robot Pursuit System” that will let packs of robots “search
Read More »Microsoft to ban freedom of speech?
By James Sherwood Microsoft has come over all PC – gedddit?!?!? – by filing a patent application for technology that’ll stop you from swearing online. In its “Automatic censorship of audio data for broadcast”
Read More »Television May Be Doing Your Thinking
By Lynn Berry | The world’s biggest leisure activity is watching television. Not walking or reading, not playing games with our children, not engaging with others in outdoor activities. Most of us like to
Read More »DNA finger printing could soon reveal your surname
By Richard Alleyne | The laboratory which invented genetic fingerprinting believes the same technique could be refined to reveal the surnames of men. A study of more than 2,500 men bearing over five hundred
Read More »‘Pre-crime’ detector shows promise
New Scientist | Last year, New Scientist revealed that the US Department of Homeland Security is developing a system designed to detect “hostile thoughts” in people walking through border posts, airports and public places.
Read More »Army scientists want to create ‘brain-wave helmet’
By Mark Thompson / Washington | Soldiers barking orders at each other is so 20th Century. That’s why the U.S. Army has just awarded a $4 million contract to begin developing “thought helmets” that would
Read More »DNA Testing Expands to Lesser Crimes
By Dan Morse | While unusual, here is a crime as alleged by Montgomery County police that joins the list of things harder to get away with in the era of DNA evidence: Man walks
Read More »Google Satellite Now Watching You From 423 Miles Up
Henry Blodget | The GeoEye satellite that Google will use to provide mapping imagery at 50-centimeter resolution successfully blasted into space today. So don’t leave your underwear lying all over your lawn. Andy Plesser
Read More »RFID leakage is hushed up – claim
MOST RFID products – like passports and Oyster cards – leak data like sieves says Brit firm, Peratech. By Tony Dennis | The scandal broke back in August but those affected – like government agencies
Read More »UK airport tests facial-recognition technology
Manchester Airport is testing facial-recognition technology as part of the UK £1.2bn e-Borders scheme to tighten controls. The facial-recognition system, provided by Fujitsu Services in partnership with Vision-Box, works by scanning passengers’ faces and
Read More »Diebold Finally Admits its Voting Machines Drop Votes
By Bruce Schneier | Premier Election Solutions, formerly called Diebold Election Systems, has finally admitted that a ten-year-old error has caused votes to be dropped. It’s unclear if this error is random or systematic.
Read More »Passengers test new face scanners
Facial recognition scanners are being trialled at an airport as part of government efforts to improve security and reduce passenger congestion. The system has been introduced at Manchester Airport. It can be used by
Read More »E-Passports ‘can be cloned’
Microchipped passports the Government claim are foolproof can be cloned in minutes, it has been reported. By Jon Swaine Test results suggest that criminals could copy innocent travellers’ passports and manipulate their data, replacing
Read More »FBI seizes local Md. library computers
The FBI removed computer records from the C. Burr Artz Library this week, a library official confirmed Saturday. Darrell Batson, director of Frederick County Public Libraries, said two FBI employees came to the downtown
Read More »Electric Cars Are the Key to Energy Independence
By David Morris | Al Gore’s heroic speech challenging us to make our electrical system 100 percent renewable promised it would simultaneously address three major crises: the weak economy, catastrophic climate change and the
Read More »Free Drug Samples Usually Go to Wealthiest Patients
NaturalNews | Contrary to claims by the pharmaceutical industry, it is usually wealthier and insured patients who receive free drug samples, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Harvard Medical School and the
Read More »British NASA hacker to face U.S. trial
LONDON (Reuters) – A British computer expert faces up to 70 years in jail after losing his fight on Wednesday against extradition to the United States, where he is accused of “the biggest military
Read More »Should we trust DNA?
SFGate | The role of DNA testing in the justice system has seemed unassailable – who can argue with the odds of two people sharing the same genetic markers being, in some cases, as
Read More »How reliable is DNA in identifying suspects?
State crime lab analyst Kathryn Troyer was running tests on Arizona’s DNA database when she stumbled across two felons with remarkably similar genetic profiles. The men matched at nine of the 13 locations on
Read More »Printer dots raise privacy concerns
By Thomas Frank | The affordability and growing popularity of color laser printers is raising concerns among civil liberties advocates that your privacy may not be worth the paper you’re printing on. More manufacturers are
Read More »Single Brain Neurons are Smarter Than You Think
By David Gutierrez | Stimulation of a single brain cell is enough to transmit sensations, Dutch and German researchers have discovered, and report in a study published in the journal Nature. Researchers have long
Read More »Pentagon Claims Cluster Bombs ‘Save Lives’
By Noah Shachtman |The Pentagon not only told the world yesterday that it would keep on using cluster bombs — it called the controversial weapons life-savers, too. The Defense Department unveiled its new policy
Read More »U.S. military to patrol Internet
UPI | The U.S. military is looking for a contractor to patrol cyberspace, watching for warning signs of forthcoming terrorist attacks or other hostile activity on the Web. “If someone wants to blow us
Read More »Laptops Lost Like Hot Cakes at US Airports
By Agam Shah | Keep laptops close at airports, because they have a startling tendency to disappear in the blink of an eye, according to a new survey. Some of the largest and medium-sized
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