Technology Policy
Report find mobile LIDAR technology expanding rapidly
March 18, 2013 10:43 am | News | CommentsA new report on the uses and current technology of LIDAR, which has just been completed and presented to the National Academy of Sciences, reveal the potential for mobile version of this laser-based imaging system. Because of its ability to obtain in an hour more data about the landscape than a surveying crew could collect in months, the technology find use in a wide variety of fields.
Researchers map out an alternative energy future for New York
March 12, 2013 2:39 pm | by Rob Jordan, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment | News | CommentsHydraulic fracturing may soon be approved for the state of New York. However, a new study finds that it is technically and economically feasible to convert New York's all-purpose energy infrastructure to one powered by wind, water, and sunlight. The authors say that overall switch would reduce New York's end-use power demand by about 37% and stabilize energy prices.
White House: Cell phone unlocking should be legal
March 5, 2013 10:07 am | News | CommentsAn Obama administration adviser says the White House believes smartphone and tablet users should be allowed to unlock their phones and use the devices on the network of their choosing. The administration's opinion on the matter also goes for tablets, since they are becoming similar to smartphones.
In death, Facebook photos could fade away forever
March 4, 2013 8:17 am | by Lauren Gambino, Associated Press | News | CommentsA grieving Oregon mother who battled Facebook for full access to her deceased son's account has been pushing for years for something that would prevent others from losing photos, messages and other memories—as she did. The Oregon Legislature took up the cause as well, only to be turned back by pressure from the tech industry, which argued that both a 1986 federal law and voluntary terms of service agreements prohibit companies from sharing a person's information. Still, lawmakers pushed forward, seeking to treat digital information, from photos to intellectual property, as material property for estate purposes.
U.S. may face inevitable nuclear power exit
March 1, 2013 10:13 am | News | CommentsIn a 2012 report, the Obama administration announced that it was "jumpstarting" the nuclear industry and injected significant funding into two new nuclear reactor projects in Georgia. But this investment—the first of its kind in three decades—belies an overall dismal U.S. nuclear power landscape, according to a recently published report. Where Japan and many European countries responded to the Fukushima disaster with public debate and significant policy shifts in the nuclear arena, the U.S. has scarcely broached the subject.
Science and engineering students petition Congress to stop sequestration
December 7, 2012 9:33 am | News | CommentsMandatory cuts to federal funding as outlined in the Budget Control Act, known as sequestration, will take place in early January, unless Congress takes action. More than 6,000 science and engineering students have hand-delivered a petition to the local offices of U.S. senators and House leaders, requesting that sequestration be halted because it would harm their future as innovators and hurt economic growth in the United States.
Fast-growing fish may never wind up on your plate
December 5, 2012 10:45 am | by Matthew Perrone, AP Health Writer | News | CommentsAfter weathering concerns about everything from the safety of humans eating the salmon to their impact on the environment, Aquabounty was in a position to become the world's first company to sell fish whose DNA has been altered to speed up growth. But after positive feedback from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2010, the agency still has not approved the fish and the company could soon run out of money.
NIST releases annual report on federal technology transfer
November 28, 2012 4:31 pm | News | CommentsEach year NIST releases a report on technology transfer from federal laboratories, detailing efforts to transfer the results of public investment in research to meet marketplace and other needs. The newest technology transfer report tallies the thousands of patents, cooperative agreements, licenses, and other pathways by which these transfers happened in 2010.
Official backs studying quake risks at nuke plants
November 9, 2012 4:51 pm | by Ray Henry, Associated Press | News | CommentsIn March, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission instructed power companies to re-evaluate the seismic and flooding hazards that their power plants face. Recent earthquakes in the eastern U.S., coupled with evidence of the results of the 2011 earthquake in Japan, have highlighted the importance of this effort in order to implement new design measures.
Dealing with power outages more efficiently
November 7, 2012 2:58 pm | News | CommentsThe recent hurricane that struck the Northeast of the U.S. forced utility companies, public officials, and emergency services to work together quickly. But we aren’t alone in suffering widespread outages. Researchers in Germany have created a new planning software product that they believe will enable all participants responding to outages in that country be better prepared for emergency situations.
Sharing space: Proximity breeds collaboration
October 26, 2012 1:47 pm | by Diane Swanbrow | News | CommentsA new University of Michigan study shows that when researchers share a building, and especially a floor, the likelihood of forming new collaborations and obtaining funding increases dramatically. The findings make sense, but the increases were dramatic—researchers who share floors in the same building are more than 50% more likely to form collaborations than those that don’t share the same buidling.
Food vs. fuel: Is there surplus land for bioenergy?
October 18, 2012 8:37 am | News | CommentsIncreasing demand for bioenergy feedstock is generating land-use conflicts and food vs. fuel controversies. An team of 11 scientists from seven European countries and the United States have recently published a study that gives scientific background to the debate. It supports a reassessment of the land available for bioenergy feedstock production.
Restricting nuclear power has little effect on the cost of climate policies
October 2, 2012 9:03 am | News | CommentsApplying a global energy-economy computer simulation that fully captures the competition between alternative power supply technologies, a team of scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the University of Dayton, Ohio, analyzed trade-offs between nuclear and climate policies. They found that incremental costs due to policy options restricting the use of nuclear power do not significantly increase the cost of even stringent greenhouse-gas emissions reductions.
Study: Fraud growing in scientific research papers
October 2, 2012 4:00 am | by Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsA recent review of retractions in medical and biological peer-reviewed journals finds the percentage of studies withdrawn because of fraud or suspected fraud has jumped substantially since the mid-1970s. In 1976, there were fewer than 10 fraud retractions for every 1 million studies published, compared with 96 retractions per million in 2007.
Hotter might be better at energy-intensive data centers
September 26, 2012 4:43 am | News | CommentsAs data centers continue to come under scrutiny for the amount of energy they use, researchers at University of Toronto Scarborough have a suggestion: turn the air conditioning down. Their latest research suggests that turning up the temperature could save energy with little or no increased risk of equipment failure.
Researchers make call for specialty metals recycling
September 24, 2012 2:56 pm | News | CommentsAccording to recent paper published by Yale University scientists, an international policy is needed for recycling scarce specialty metals that are critical in the production of consumer goods. Specialty metals account for more than 30 of the 60 metals on the periodic table, and their rapidly accelerating usage in many industries makes the complete lack of recycling a concern.
Article: New technology being stymied by copyright law
September 17, 2012 5:08 am | News | CommentsFrom Napster to iTunes to Pandora, the methods by which the public can obtain and share music have rapidly progressed. Future groundbreaking innovations may need to wait, though, as the next generation of technology is being stymied by the very copyright laws that seek to protect the industry, says Rutgers-Camden University professor Michael Carrier in a new article for a law journal..
U.S. research and development most prevalent in small number of regions
September 13, 2012 4:29 am | News | CommentsAccording to data from a 2008 Business R&D and Innovation Survey by the National Science Foundation, businesses perform the lion's share of their R&D activity in just a small number of geographic areas, particularly the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland area and the New York-Newark-Bridgeport area.
Newly licensed neutron detector will advance human disease research
September 6, 2012 11:08 am | News | CommentsA neutron detector developed for studies focused on life science, drug discovery, and materials technology has been licensed by PartTec Ltd. The Indiana-based manufacturer of radiation detection technologies is moving the technology developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory toward the commercial marketplace.
Statistical science institute renewed for another five years by NSF
August 29, 2012 3:28 am | News | CommentsFounded in 2002, the Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute (SAMSI) is one of eight mathematical institutes funded by the NSF’s Division of Mathematical Sciences, and the only one that focuses on statistics and applied mathematics. SAMSI’s funding has recently been renewed by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for five years.
NASA picks three private firms to develop space taxis
August 7, 2012 12:23 pm | by Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsNASA recently picked three aerospace companies to build small rocketships to take astronauts to the International Space Station. This is the third phase of NASA's efforts to get private space companies to take over the job of the now-retired space shuttle. The companies will share more than $1.1 billion. Two of the ships are capsules like in the Apollo era and the third is closer in design to the space shuttle.
Increased productivity, not less energy use, results from more efficient lighting
August 7, 2012 4:12 am | News | CommentsIn 2010, Sandia National Laboratories researcher Jeff Tsao and Harry Saunders of The Breakthrough Institute in Oakland, Calif., predicted that light-emitting diodes would have a similar improvement in productivity—but not less energy use—that occurred upon the introduction of the Edison light bulb. Now, they have reprised their report to emphasize conclusions they say were misinterpreted by the media.
EPA releases nanomaterial case study regarding nanoscale silver
August 6, 2012 6:05 am | News | CommentsThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has completed and published a comprehensive environmental assessment (CEA) framework study of engineered nanoscale silver, specifically with regard to its behavior in disinfectant sprays. Though not a formal assessment, many factors such as product life cycle, environmental transport and fate, exposure-dose in receptors, and potential impacts in these receptors are covered in the report.
Research collaboration among multiple institutions is a growing trend
August 6, 2012 6:03 am | News | CommentsAccording to a recent National Science Foundation report, the amount of R&D funding that passed through universities to others for collaborative projects during fiscal years 2000 to 2009 grew more rapidly than overall academic R&D expenditures. Federal initiatives and technological advances are thought to be contributing factors to this trend.
NSF reports on state-by-state R & D activities
August 3, 2012 5:20 am | News | CommentsA recent report released by the National Science Foundation (NSF) found state government agency expenditures for research and development totaled $1.2 billion in fiscal year 2009, a 7% increase over the fiscal 2007 total of $1.1 billion. The survey marked the first time NSF asked state agencies to classify their R&D according to specific categories.
