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Scientists Seek More Accurate Cargo Scanners
Scientists in North Carolina are pursuing new cargo scanning technology capable of more accurately identifying nuclear- and radiological-weapon ingredients by making use of newly discovered atomic “fingerprints,” Duke University said on Thursday (see GSN, April 28).
The High Intensity Gamma-Ray Source generates beams that interact in specific ways with radioactive materials including uranium and plutonium. Such interactions might someday be used to identify weapon-grade uranium and other dangerous atomic materials amid benign radiation sources, Duke University nuclear physicist Mohammad Ahmed said in a press release. Ahmed’s team is examining the distinct patterns in which the atomic nuclei of different materials emit neutrons when exposed to the beam. Read more…
China unveils rival to International Space Station
Less than a decade ago, it fired its first human being into orbit. Now, Beijing is working on a multi-capsule outpost in space. But what is the political message of the Tiangong ‘heavenly palace’?
Visitors to the Airshow China exhibition look at a model of the Tiangong-1 space station. Photograph: Ranwen/Imaginechina
China laid out plans for its future in space yesterday, unveiling details of an ambitious new space station to be built in orbit within a decade.
The project, which one NASA adviser describes as a “potent political symbol”, is the latest phase in China’s rapidly developing space programme. It is less than a decade since China put a human into orbit for the first time, and three years since its first spacewalk.
The space station will weigh around 60 tonnes and consist of a core module with two laboratory units for experiments, according to the state news agency, Xinhua.
Officials have asked the public to suggest names and symbols for the unit and for a cargo spacecraft that will serve it.
Professor Jiang Guohua, from the China Astronaut Research and Training Centre, said the facility would be designed to Read more…
Feds to Supreme Court: Allow Warrantless GPS Monitoring
The Obama administration is urging the Supreme Court to allow the government, without a court warrant, to affix GPS devices on suspects’ vehicles to track their every move.
The Justice Department, saying “a person has no reasonable expectation of privacy in his movements (.pdf) from one place to another,” is demanding the justices undo a lower court decision that reversed the conviction and life sentence of a cocaine dealer whose vehicle was tracked via GPS for a month without a court warrant.
The petition, if accepted by the justices, arguably would make it the biggest Fourth Amendment case in a decade — one weighing the collision of Read more…
‘Houston, we have a problem’: $500,000 of high-tech equipment goes missing at NASA in a year
They might be able to send men into outer space – but it seems NASA can’t stop losing cameras, televisions and computers at its offices on the ground.
The U.S. space agency lost almost $500,000 of high-tech equipment at Kennedy Space Center in Florida last year, including a Vidge digital recorder worth $100,391.
Other items lost since 2008 include 11 Motorola handheld radios worth $35,582, a $18,000 wave reflectometer that checks for breaks in wiring and a $3,379 golf cart.
Lost property: Read more…Pictures of China’s new submarines, tanks, stealth planes and railgun development
Here is a picture that compares the Chinese J20, the US F22 and the Russian T50 stealth fighter planes from the side and from the top
Terrifying scientific discovery: Strange emissions by sun are suddenly mutating matter…
The angry sun
This goes with another article that was posted 2 months ago.
For months mounting fear has driven researchers to wring their hands over the approaching solar storms. Some have predicted devastating solar tsunamis that could wipe away our advanced technology, others voiced dire warnings that violent explosions on the surface of the sun could reach out to Earth, breach our magnetic field, and expose billions to high intensity X-rays and other deadly forms of cancer-causing radiation.
Now evidence has surfaced that something potentially more dangerous is happening deep within the hidden core of our life-giving star: never-before-seen particles—or some mysterious force—is being shot out from the sun and it’s hitting Earth.
Whatever it is, the evidence suggests it’s affecting all matter.
Strange and unknown
Alarmed physicists first became aware of this threat over the past several years. Initially dismissed as an anomaly, now frantic scientists are shooting e-mails back and forth to colleagues across the world attempting to grasp exactly Read more…
Cops Use Mobile Scanner To Steal Cellphone Data From Innocent Americans
Americans are living in a predatory police state, then this story completely eviscerates it. Michigan state police have been using a handheld mobile forensics device to steal information from cell phones belonging to motorists stopped for minor traffic violations.
Face Recognizing Glasses to be Used by Brazilian Cops
A small camera fitted to the glasses can capture 400 facial images per second and send them to a central computer database storing up to 13 million faces.
The system can compare biometric data at 46,000 points on a face and will immediately signal any matches to known criminals or people wanted by police.
If there is a match a red signal will appear on a small screen connected to the glasses, alerting the police officer of the need to take further action or make an arrest.
The devices will soon be tested at football matches and concerts and police in Brazil, South America’s biggest country, are already planning to use them Read more…
Thermal Cameras Look Inside Homes to Monitor Energy Efficiency
Aaron Dykes
Infowars.com
April 11, 2011
The city of Boston has been taken to task by the ACLU over concerns about a roll-out of thermal imaging cameras being used to monitor energy efficiency inside homes. A pilot program to take aerial and street-level photos of heat loss in Boston was part of a scheme to encourage participation in home energy improvement programs, as well as to drive consumers towards green companies.
According to CBS, the project had been halted following public outcry about invasions of privacy, namely that “infrared cameras would reveal information about what’s going on inside the homes.” Further objections have been raised about potential violations of the Fourth Amendment (but what’s that anyway?). Officials reportedly “planned on sharing the photos and analysis with homeowners, and were hoping the findings would increase enrollment in efficiency programs and also create business opportunities.”
MIT, who helped develop the technology’s use for energy tracking, has already thermally-mapped the entire city of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Their press writers brag that automated cameras attached to vehicles would collect data “similar to the way Google Street View vehicles obtain visual imagery.” This 55 second video provides a glimpse at their system: Read more…
IRS to increase “pre-crime” enforcement
Did you ever see Minority Report? It’s one of Steven Spielberg’s often forgotten about movies based on the short story by Philip K. Dick. In the movie, pre-couch Tom Cruise plays a police officer in the year 2054 who works for the highly specialized ‘pre-crime’ division.
Using a bizarre array of technology and metaphysics, the pre-crime division sees into the future and stops criminals in their tracks, arresting them before they commit a crime… sometimes before they even think about committing a crime.
This very elaborate and morally ambiguous law enforcement system is predicated on the government determining what your actions and intentions will be, often before Read more…
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