DARPA's issued a new "funding opportunity" dubbed Prophecy--it's a program to investigate how virus evolution may be predicted, notionally to improve the way the drug business tackles health threats. But it's DARPA, so there're military issues in the mix too.READ»
There has been substantial debate recently whether DARPA - the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency - still effectively spurs U.S. technological innovation.
On Tuesday, September 14, The Information Technology and Innovation ...READ»
Forget petaflops. Forget Moore's Law. The Defense Department is set to build supercomputers that are a thousand times faster than the current record holders. Scary or cool?READ»
DARPA is our favorite source for off-the-wall yet compelling technology. We've seen proposals for flying cars, handheld nuclear fusion devices, and now poop-powered nuclear reactors. It's not as crazy at seems.Wired explains that ...READ»
The Pentagon's DARPA arm is known for its attempts to reduce devices to microchip size. Projects have included multi-purpose sensors, cryogenic coolers, video cameras, and apparently, "Chip-Scale High Energy Atomic ...READ»
In the future DARPA's ISIS blimp may be hovering above the horizon near to conflict zones, feeding real time radar data to troops and smart weapons from on high. True to its name, it's also a little more magical than the Goodyear ...READ»
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has long been shrouded in mists made of equal measures of awe, mystery, controversy, and spying. Now it's strolling out of those clouds, jauntily singing a 1980s pop ditty by Nena. 99 ...READ»
Robo-squids, robot "swarms"--and vacuums. For its 20th birthday celebration, the company celebrated its split personality, designing robots both for the home and for the military.READ»
The U.S. military has a nagging problem: soldiers are either stuck in their land-bound Humvees or in helicopters. Not for long, if DARPA has anything to say about it. The defense agency's Transformer program aims to make sci-fi ...READ»
Remember that fantastical-sounding flying car that DARPA proposed earlier this year? It isn't just a pipe dream anymore--the defense agency has released a 58-page announcement (pdf) detailing the military's vision of "a robust ...READ»
Distracted driving caused 6,000 automobile fatalities in 2008 alone. People probably aren't going to stop texting and fiddling around with gadgets while driving anytime soon, so why not make it a little bit less dangerous to be ...READ»
1567
Prize for: Developing a method of finding longitude at sea
Offered by: Spain's King Philip II
Amount: 6,000 gold ducats, plus an annual pension of 2,000ducats for life
Winner: Marine chronometer, by James Harrison, in ...READ»
With geo-aware brains and no driver, this modified Audi TT-S experimental vehicle is built to drift around corners and then regain control of itself. It could be the forerunner of future handling systems that could allow drivers to ...READ»
Memristors: If you don't know about 'em, you certainly will over the next few years. We're probably not talking about the same kind of revolution as the transistor sparked off, but new research has shown they can mimic brain cells, so ...READ»
Back in July the government identified robots as one of the R&D priorities for the 2012 budget (about a decade behind the rest of us). Now there's a research funding round to aid small business robotic's efforts, to build robot gear DARPA can't manage.READ»
You remember BigDog, don't you? It's that loud all-terrain prototype robot quadruped that peopled your dreams with Terminator-esque nightmares when you saw the video. DARPA just awarded a $32 million contract to build it.
The ...READ»
When the Soviet Sputnik beat American satellites into space in 1957, the U.S. tried to reclaim its technological edge by creating the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which pursued high-risk, high-payoff tech breakthroughs. ...READ»
