Versatile new micro-sensors to sniff out explosives

October 6th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Taking a major step towards improved CMOS sensors for most in-car camera systems, scientists have developed a new process that could provide colours to these systems. The CMOS sensors are semiconductor chips that convert light signals into electrical pulses and are installed in most digital cameras.

August 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has shown that micro flying robots that hover like flies can save up to 50 percent energy if they swing an insect wing around like a helicopter blade. Previously, engineers have long been stymied in their attempts to fabricate micro aerial robots that can match the amazing flight capabilities of nature's most advanced flying insects - flies.

July 30th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In an effort to extend the sensory range of 'electronic noses' (e-noses), scientists from CSIRO's Food Futures Flagship have developed a system that would help compare their performance against the much-superior nose of the common house fly. "Although e-noses already have many uses - such as detecting spoilage in the food industry and monitoring air quality - they are not as discriminating as biological noses," said CSIRO scientist, Dr Stephen Trowell.

May 14th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have built a test facility to evaluate and enhance sensors designed to detect buried land mines. The unique automated system measures the response of individual electromagnetic induction sensors or arrays of sensors against land mines buried at many possible angles.

April 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India has to build a sustainable micro-entrepreneurship movement, which would transform many of its job seekers into job creators, Vice-President Mohammad Hamid Ansari said here Tuesday. 'Such entrepreneurship, however, needs to be broad-based and supported by the civil society,' Ansari said while addressing a conference on entrepreneurship, jointly organised by the Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) BYST is a non-profit organisation, which is promoting micro entrepreneurship among the youth.

April 15th, 2009 Al-ARISH - In two separate incidents, Egyptian security forces Wednesday found an estimated 900 kg of explosives in the Sinai peninsula and arrested three Palestinians for entering Egypt illegally, police said. The explosives, which were discovered in the Jafjafa region of central Sinai, included 50 kg of TNT and 18 mobile phones that could have been used to detonate the explosives remotely, a source in Egypt's interior ministry told DPA on condition of anonymity.

April 9th, 2009 TORONTO - Canadian researchers have developed the world's first flying micro-robot that can manipulate objects, particularly during surgeries, for micro-scale applications. The invention provides researchers with more control over micro-scale manipulation, allowing them to move and place tiny objects with far greater precision, said Waterloo University - where an engineering research team developed the device.

March 31st, 2009 NEW DELHI - High interest rates coupled with an uneven spread of micro-financial institutions are among the major reasons for credit still not being available to a sizable portion of the underprivileged, experts said Tuesday. 'There is an uneven spread of the micro-finance movement,' B.P.

March 25th, 2009 KOLKATA - Police will carry out a combing operation to sniff out Maoist rebels from the tribal-dominated Lalgarh region of West Bengal before the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, an official said Wednesday. 'We will be sending police forces to Lalgarh before the April-May elections to search out Maoists guerrillas in the region so that polls can be conducted in the district peacefully,' West Bengal Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen told reporters here.

March 16th, 2009 PATNA - The Election Commission will deploy micro-observers at all polling booths in Bihar to maintain constant vigil during voting for the general elections next month, an official said here Monday. 'The election commission has decided to deploy micro-observers on static duty at all booths in Bihar for the first time,' home secretary Afzal Amanullah told IANS.

March 14th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A group of scientists have discovered a new way to sensitively detect explosives based on the physical properties of their vapors. "Certain classes of explosives have unique thermal characteristics that help to identify explosive vapors in presence of other vapors," said Thomas Thundat, a researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the University of Tennessee, who conducted the research with his colleagues at ORNL and the Technical University of Denmark.

February 26th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Researchers have come up with a faster, more specific method of detecting viruses. Viruses can be detected in fluids, which is of vital importance in diagnostics.

January 27th, 2009 SYDNEY - Seeing and flying like a dragonfly could be the key to developing highly versatile micro-aerial vehicles. The extraordinary flying ability of the dragonfly has been the subject of ongoing research by Richard Berry from the Centre for Visual Sciences at Australian National University (ANU).

January 19th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A powerful new tool can image single molecules in a cell, with much greater clarity and speed, compared to existing methods. The new tool, dubbed liquid scanning transmission electron microscope or liquid STEM, uses a micro-fluidic device with electron transparent windows to enable the imaging of cells in liquid.

December 28th, 2008 LUCKNOW - Three people were arrested in Allahabad district of Uttar Pradesh Monday for smuggling in explosives from Madhya Pradesh. A huge cache of explosives was recovered from them, police said.