Computer scientists are one step closer to building low cost networks of underwater sensors for real time underwater environmental monitoring. New research highlights the energy conservation benefits of using reconfigurable hardware rather than competing hardware platforms for their experimental underwater sensor nets.

The fifth largest and newest water tunnel in the United States has just been completed. The tunnel has been under construction for more than a year, holds thousands of gallons of water and has taken more than 5,000 man hours to build to its current state.

If an atomic zombie is molesting you, get this coil gun, aim with its built-in laser gun sight and pew-pew a metal projectile at 110km/h into his rotting cranium, with a total energy of 18 joules. Don't count on holding an invasion of them, though. The coil gun-which uses electromagnetic coils configured as a synchronous linear electric motor, accelerating fire metal pieces as it goes through it-needs eight seconds to have enough electric charge. And that's while plugged to the wall. With batteries, it's 90 seconds. That said, it's quite impressive, knowing that it only took its creator, Daniel Eindhoven, 40 hours to make it. I want.

The hybrid Nitrous Oxide rocket that will take SpaceShipTwo to 65 miles above the Earth at 2500mph (YES!) has fired off for the first time in the southern California desert. Founder, adventurer and cool-guy-at-large Sir Richard Branson is happy: As Virgin Galactic gets ever closer to the start of commercial operations, we are reaching and passing many important and historic milestones. The Virgin MotherShip (VMS) Eve, the first of our amazing, all carbon composite, high altitude WhiteKnightTwo launch vehicles, is flying superbly. SpaceShipTwo, which will air launch from Eve, is largely constructed and awaiting the start of its own test flight programme later this year. Yes, Sir Richard, I totally share the feeling. Even more because this time there have been no problems at all. One of the cool things about the rocket is that is controllable and can be shut down safely at any time, allowing SpaceShipTwo to glide down to Earth at any time in case there's any problem. This is obviously one of the biggest concerns for the company: Safety. The other big thing-other than putting amateur astronauts up there-is being green. They are trying to make the engine as clean as these things could be. The engine will burn for a very short period of time because it will be first lifted by White Knight II, which uses cleaner fuel. In fact, the carbon footprint for "each of its passengers and crew will be about a quarter of that for a return trip from London to New York."

They are masters at working with light: the scientists at the newly founded QUEST Institute in Germany. And they want to work on some of the most exciting questions relating to physics today: on unimaginably precise methods of measurement for observing the Earth, on the pressing question of the fundamentals of physics, of whether the fundamental constants are really constant, and on the development of the best atomic clock in the world made of a single aluminum atom.

Researchers say they’ve made a big improvement in a new breed of electronic detectors for viruses and other biological materials — one that may be a valuable addition to the battle against epidemics.

Enwa Water Treatment will participate at Nor-Shipping 9-12 June 2009, please visit our stand C05-14.

Nor-Shipping is an international shipping exhibition and conference, which takes place just outside of Oslo. In 2007 the exhibition had 13,745 visitors with 77 different nationalities.
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When T-Mobile finally decided to join the 3G data card bandwagon earlier this year, we figured it prudent to grab a few sticks from the likes of T-Mob, Sprint, Verizon Wireless and AT&T in order to see which carrier provides the most bang for the buck in the mobile data arena. And trust us, it's about more than just uplink and downlink rates in 2G / 3G regions these days — it's about figuring out which operator provides the coverage you need at the price you can afford, all while dodging those precarious overage charges and finding yourself out of luck when traveling overseas.

We see boatloads of solar charging gizmos around here, but they're usually not so… large. What we have here is a big sunning umbrella, for use outdoors (obviously), which has large flexible solar panels made by Konarka on top. The solar collecting panels store the energy in the stem of the Powerbrella as it's called, and it's got outlets at its base for charging your phone, PMP, etc. The 'brellas have already been tested in Florida, and are set to be manufactured by Sky Shades, for release sometime this summer. No word on pricing yet.

Are you looking to torment a neighbor / random passerby without the messy after-effects of traditional "just plain lethal" weapons? Perhaps you work for a law enforcement agency and you'd like to justify a budget increase by pouring cash into something vaguely futuristic. Or maybe you're a big city mayor with a "tough on crime" stance who'd rather not put any more money in social services. If so, we've found something both painful and cute sounding to add to your shopping list: Laser Energetics ("the total laser technology solutions company!") has just unveiled its new Dazer Laser less-than-lethal light fighting technology line. These bad boys operate at a range of up to 2400 meters (depending on the model), and work by emitting a green laser beam that fans out into a 1 x 8-foot "Dazer Zone." When focused on a person's eyes, his or her vision is temporarily impaired, their balance is effected, and they become overwhelmed by nausea. At the very least, this sounds much better than being microwaved, right?