http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. If asked how today's toughest medical problems are being solved, most people would probably envision highly skilled physicians and scientists working countless hours with sophisticated lab equipment, not people sitting in their homes playing computer games. Yet DARPA feels the gamers of the world have something to contribute. By pooling the time of hundreds or even thousands of computer users, DARPA hopes to accelerate new research into better treatments for sepsis—an overwhelming infection of the bloodstream that affects thousands of servicemembers each year and often leads to death. http://phys.org/news265620268.html Technology Fri, 31 Aug 2012 08:24:34 EST news265620268 (Phys.org) -- In military operations there are a lot of things that need to be done besides fighting, and the US government is hoping to offload as much of those things as possible to robots. To that end, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has directed funds at all manner of projects aimed at developing robots that can haul heavy loads, diffuse bombs, traverse mine fields, etc. Thus far however, most such efforts have been focused on heavy duty jobs with heavy duty robots. Now, however, it appears DARPA has recognized a new need: smaller, lighter robots that can perform more tactile tasks in chorus with human soldiers. The agency is about to award iRobot (of Roomba fame) $625,000 to build an inflatable robot arm that can pick things up and set them down in a reliable fashion and that won’t cause harm to soldiers if they should run into each other. http://phys.org/news264849767.html Electronics Wed, 22 Aug 2012 10:40:01 EST news264849767 DARPA researchers have created the world’s first solid state receiver to demonstrate gain at 0.85 terahertz (THz). http://phys.org/news263028296.html Electronics Wed, 01 Aug 2012 08:25:25 EST news263028296 “Alien” meets “Bride of Frankenstein” and “Night of the Living Dead?” Straight from a possible sci-fi/horror movie mashup, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) wants to harvest components from dead, non-working “zombie” satellites to build new ones in space, all done remotely via a grasping, mechanical arm. http://phys.org/news262599862.html Space & Earth Fri, 27 Jul 2012 09:40:02 EST news262599862 The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University today announced that it has received a $2.6 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop a smart suit that helps improve physical endurance for soldiers in the field. http://phys.org/news262002086.html Technology Fri, 20 Jul 2012 11:21:35 EST news262002086 DARPA’s research and development in stealth technology during the 1970s and 1980s led to the world’s most advanced radar-evading aircraft, providing strategic national security advantage to the United States. Today, that strategic advantage is threatened as other nations’ abilities in stealth and counter-stealth improve. Restoring that battle space advantage requires advanced speed, reach and range. Hypersonic technologies have the potential to provide the dominance once afforded by stealth to support a range of varied future national security missions. http://phys.org/news261041486.html Technology Mon, 09 Jul 2012 09:20:05 EST news261041486 This is an image of a gigapixel camera currently being developed by DARPA’s Advanced Wide FOV Architectures for Image Reconstruction and Exploitation (AWARE) program. http://phys.org/news260783259.html Technology Fri, 06 Jul 2012 08:47:48 EST news260783259 Notre Dame came back from an early deficit and took the lead over Ohio Northern University on a pass. Its defense stiffened in the second half, and it stymied ONU, 26-7. http://phys.org/news260767761.html Electronics Fri, 06 Jul 2012 06:30:01 EST news260767761 DARPA's UAVForge, a crowdsourcing competition to design, build and manufacture an advanced small unmanned air vehicle (UAV), set out to determine if a loosely-connected community of UAV enthusiasts could develop a militarily relevant back-pack portable UAV with specific capabilities. By using a crowdsourcing design approach, the effort sought to inspire innovation and creative thought by lowering barriers to entry and increasing the number and diversity of contributors. http://phys.org/news260530107.html Technology Tue, 03 Jul 2012 10:28:32 EST news260530107 (Phys.org) -- Sewing machines that sew by themselves are on the research boards at Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). When concept becomes real, automated sewing without the need for human labor might raise concerns about lost jobs. The advent of automated sewing machines will also affect talk about garment-production conditions and wage levels for some 500,000 workers employed by contractors to make military uniforms. Overall, automated sewing machines might even reinvent clothing production in the U.S, which imports about $100 billion worth of clothes and sewn items each year from countries including China and Vietnam. http://phys.org/news258527099.html Technology Sun, 10 Jun 2012 06:05:19 EST news258527099 A Georgia Tech research team has developed a novel technology that could change how industry designs and casts complex, costly metal parts. This new casting method makes possible faster prototype development times, as well as more efficient and cost-effective manufacturing procedures after a part moves to mass production. http://phys.org/news256559996.html Technology Fri, 18 May 2012 11:40:11 EST news256559996 Much of the operationally-relevant information relied on in support of DoD missions may be implicit rather than explicitly expressed, and in many cases, information is deliberately obfuscated and important activities and objects are only indirectly referenced. http://phys.org/news255688664.html Technology Tue, 08 May 2012 09:40:44 EST news255688664 When the Department of Defense (DoD) wants to build a jet engine, it doesn’t put a team of engineers in a hangar with a block of metal and some chisels.  Jet engines are made up of individual components that are carefully assembled into a finished product that possesses the desired performance capabilities.  In the case of thin-film deposition—a process in which coatings with special properties are bonded to materials and parts to enhance performance—current science addresses the process as though it is attempting to build a jet engine from a block of metal, focusing on the whole and ignoring the parts.  Like a jet engine, the thin-film deposition process could work better if it was addressed at the component level. http://phys.org/news254735057.html Chemistry Fri, 27 Apr 2012 08:45:12 EST news254735057 Many U.S. Military systems, such as missiles, rely on the Global Positioning System (GPS) to provide accurate position, orientation and time information while in flight. When GPS is inaccessible, whether as a result of a malfunction or as a consequence of enemy action, information critical for navigation must be gathered using the missile's on-board sensors. http://phys.org/news253873279.html Technology Tue, 17 Apr 2012 09:40:04 EST news253873279 (Phys.org) -- A Bellevue, Washington, company specializing in display technology based on eyewear and contact lenses has sealed a deal with DARPA. Innovega, which says its technology can open a “new dimension to virtual and augmented reality applications,” told the BBC earlier this week that it has signed a contract to deliver a prototype of its iOptik display system to DARPA. That system consists of special contact lenses and eyeglasses. The product is touted to be a better solution than bulky heads-up display systems of the past. Screens sit directly on users' eyeballs and work with a pair of special lightweight glasses. http://phys.org/news253678515.html Technology Sun, 15 Apr 2012 05:50:01 EST news253678515 Atomic clocks are the most accurate frequency standard and timing devices in the world. Their range of uses include being the international standard for timekeeping, managing broadcasts and satellite positioning, navigation and timing (PNT). Traditional atomic clocks are too large to be placed onboard small satellites so a downlink with Earth is needed for the accurate PNT required for space operations. http://phys.org/news252145164.html Space & Earth Wed, 28 Mar 2012 09:19:35 EST news252145164 The use of ground robots in military explosive-ordinance-disposal missions already saves many lives and prevents thousands of other casualties. If the current limitations on mobility and manipulation capabilities of robots can be overcome, robots could potentially assist warfighters across a greater range of missions. DARPA’s Maximum Mobility and Manipulation (M3) program seeks to create and demonstrate significant scientific and engineering advances in robot mobility and manipulation capabilities. http://phys.org/news251969805.html Electronics Mon, 26 Mar 2012 08:36:59 EST news251969805 Google on Monday confirmed that Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency chief Regina Dugan is taking a yet-to-be-revealed role at the Internet powerhouse. http://phys.org/news250832088.html Technology Tue, 13 Mar 2012 04:50:03 EST news250832088 Students, professionals, public sought to create algorithm enabling capture of objects in space. http://phys.org/news250333348.html Technology Wed, 07 Mar 2012 09:02:42 EST news250333348 DARPA's Autonomous Robotic Manipulation (ARM) program is developing software to perform human-level tasks quickly and with minimal direction. http://phys.org/news249898119.html Electronics Fri, 02 Mar 2012 08:08:52 EST news249898119 By carrying a more accurate rifle scope, U.S. warfighters can increase their standoff distance when engaging enemies. Increased standoff distance can help protect warfighter lives. This is especially true when an infrared scope is needed for nighttime action. Technologies exist for cooled infrared imaging at greater distances, but such imaging systems are limited by size, weight and power (SWaP) to large platforms such as tanks or helicopters. http://phys.org/news249123849.html Technology Wed, 22 Feb 2012 09:04:20 EST news249123849 (PhysOrg.com) -- The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced this week that it will be setting aside $7 million out of its $2 billion budget to work on a next-step robotics program called Avatar. Beyond battlefield robots built like big dogs, and beyond a headless robot called Petman, the Avatar result will be a "semi-autonomous bi-pedal machine" that can smartly and effectively behave as a soldier surrogate. DARPA’s Avatar robots will be able to perform human-like military operations such as room clearing, sentry control and recovering combat casualties, tasks that may help minimize injuries and deaths. http://phys.org/news248790901.html Technology Sat, 18 Feb 2012 13:40:01 EST news248790901 Intersections of the future will not need stop lights or stop signs, but will look like a somewhat chaotic flow of driverless, autonomous cars slipping past one another as they are managed by a virtual traffic controller, says computer scientist Peter Stone. http://phys.org/news248789776.html Technology Sat, 18 Feb 2012 12:40:01 EST news248789776 Today’s dismounted warfighter can be saddled with more than 100 pounds of gear, resulting in physical strain, fatigue and degraded performance. Reducing the load on dismounted warfighters has become a major point of emphasis for defense research and development, because the increasing weight of individual equipment has a negative impact on warfighter readiness. The Army has identified physical overburden as one of its top five science and technology challenges. To help alleviate physical weight on troops, DARPA is developing a highly mobile, semi-autonomous legged robot, the Legged Squad Support System (LS3), to integrate with a squad of Marines or Soldiers. http://phys.org/news247913532.html Technology Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:52:24 EST news247913532 Researchers focus on electricity as possible safe and environmentally friendly means to fight fire. http://phys.org/news246526802.html Technology Mon, 23 Jan 2012 07:40:35 EST news246526802 Military satellites are critical sources of communications and data for today's operations environments. Through DARPA's Phoenix program, usable antennas or solar arrays from retired satellites in geosynchronous orbit (GEO – 36,000 kilometers above earth) could be removed and potentially repurposed as components for new satellites to provide vital mission support. However, identifying cooperating satellites from which to harvest an array is a difficult and lengthy task using current ground-based satellite imaging techniques. By introducing precise fiber optic controls to ground-based telescopes, this challenge may be overcome. DARPA's Galileo program seeks to bridge the precision fiber optic controls and long-baseline astronomical interferometry technical communities to enable imaging of objects in GEO faster than is possible today. http://phys.org/news246023737.html Technology Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:55:44 EST news246023737 You may have heard by now about the 100 Year Starship project, a new research initiative to develop the technology required to send a manned mission to another star. The project is jointly sponsored by NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). It will take that long just to make such a trip feasible, hence the name. So we’re a long ways off from naming any crew members or a starship captain, but the project itself does have a new leader, a former astronaut. http://phys.org/news245574991.html Space & Earth Thu, 12 Jan 2012 07:30:01 EST news245574991 (PhysOrg.com) -- While search and rescue dogs are currently used to help locate survivors of earthquakes or other disasters, new research hopes to make this job easier by turning to bugs. Insects have the ability to get into the smallest of places and could make locating people that much easier. http://phys.org/news244387072.html Technology Thu, 29 Dec 2011 13:18:14 EST news244387072 “It sees you when you’re sleeping and knows when you’re awake” could be the theme song for a new spy satellite being developed by DARPA. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s latest proof-of-concept project is called the Membrane Optical Imager for Real-Time Exploitation (MOIRE), and would provide real-time images and video of any place on Earth at any time — a capability that, so far, only exists in the realm of movies and science fiction. The details of this huge eye-in-the-sky look like something right out of science fiction, as well, and it would be interesting to determine if it could have applications for astronomy as well. http://phys.org/news243687497.html Space & Earth Wed, 21 Dec 2011 11:30:01 EST news243687497 Almost 9,000 teams registered to participate in DARPA's Shredder Challenge. Thirty-three days after the challenge was announced, one small San Francisco-based team correctly reconstructed each of the five challenge documents and solved their associated puzzles. The ‘All Your Shreds Are Belong to U.S.’ team, which won the $50,000 prize, used custom-coded, computer-vision algorithms to suggest fragment pairings to human assemblers for verification. In total, the winning team spent nearly 600 man-hours developing algorithms and piecing together documents that were shredded into more than 10,000 pieces. http://phys.org/news242297243.html Technology Mon, 05 Dec 2011 08:47:37 EST news242297243