Science & Technology (S&T) Snapshots

The e-newsletter of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Science & Technology Directorate, S&T Snapshots, features stories about current research projects and opportunities with laboratories, universities, government agencies, and the private sector.

Current Story

• Building and Infrastructure Protection Series: Designing Buildings to Withstand Almost Anything (January 31, 2012) By helping buildings withstand unusually severe hazards, DHS aims to keep critical infrastructure open for business.
  
  
• Urban Blast Tool (UBT): From Opening Thunder to Closing Whimper (Januaray 31, 2012) Predicting bomb shockwaves, building vulnerability, and evacuation priority.
  

2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007

2011

• When Clean just isn't Clean Enough (December 23, 2011) Backboard Covers Protect Patients from Cross Infections.
  
  
• Making Domain Names Safe and Reliable (November 22, 2011): Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) Project.
  
  
• For Wildfires, a Doorstop at Nature's Doorstep (October 5, 2011): DHS-funded research helps define fire standards to protect homes.
  
  
• Racing Against The Clock (September 15, 2011): New tools now available for rescuing those trapped beneath concrete.
  
  
• The Coast Guard's Arctic Agenda Heats Up (July 15, 2011): The Coast Guard charts a course for basic research before Arctic travelers find themselves on thin ice.
  
  
• DHS's First Patent: A Citizen's Dosimeter! (June 27, 2011): It fits in your wallet and can save your life.
  
  
• Where There's Smoke, There's a Signal (June 16, 2011): For firefighters, wireless self-powered router “breadcrumbs” that won’t become toast when baked or soggy when hosed. (First Responders)
  
  
• Sentries in the Garden Shed (February 15, 2011): Plants that can detect environmental contaminants and explosives. (Chemical & Biological)
  
  
• Secret Service Site Security Training Gains a High-Tech Edge (January 24, 2011): Secret Service employees receive high-tech modeling and simulation training with S&T funded Site Security Planning Tool. (Chemical & Biological)

2010

• Glass That Won't Break...The Bank (October 26, 2010): Creating an inexpensive and standard-sides blast-proof glass alternative (Infrastructure & Geophysical)

• Resilient Homes: Last Room Standing (June 15, 2010): The Department wants you to know that safe rooms can be life savers in the face of Mother Nature's wrath (Infrastructure & Geophysical)

• ISIS: New Video Camera Sees It All (May 6, 2010): 360° surveillance video promises high-res detail, multiple views, and DVR features (Infrastructure & Geophysical)

• Laser Decontamination: Shine a Light (April 22, 2010): Using lasers to decontaminate the site of a chemical explosion (Chemical & Biological)

• The Importance of Being Resilient (April 1, 2010): Resilience research recognized at S&T summit (University Programs)

• It Takes a Water Purifier (March 23, 2010): Dirty water is one of Mother Nature’s overlooked assassins. S&T seeks to clean it up. (Infrastructure & Geophysical)

• SportEvac: Choreographing a Stadium Stampede (March 16, 2010): Need a plan to evacuate 70,000 sports fans in one hour? Try rehearsing with 70,000 avatars (Infrastructure and Geophysical)

• Cell All: Super Smartphones Sniff Out Suspicious Substances (March 9, 2010): Crowdsourcing cell phones to detect dangerous chemicals (Chemical and Biological)

• Bomb Scare: An ODD Solution (February 23, 2010): A new and better way to detect explosives (Explosives)

• Honing the Art and Science of Fingerprinting (February 4, 2010): A Pictogram Is Worth a Thousand Translations (Human Factors)

• The Magnetic Vision Innovative Prototype (MagViz) - R.I.P., 3-1-1 (January 25, 2010): Government brainiacs rethink the brain scanner so you can fly with all your liquids, gels, sprays, spreads…and so on (Explosives)

• Mapping an Emergency (January 12, 2010): Making communications among first responders interoperable (Command, Control & Interoperability)

2009

• Boston's Big Sniff (December 9, 2009): Researchers collect data during a study on airflow in Boston's subway system (Chemical & Biological)
  
  
• If You Can't Stand the Heat, Get Off the Bus! (November 25, 2009): Forensic camera to be utilized on public transportation tested (Explosives)
  
  
• Mean Old Levee: Homeland Security's Levee PLUGS Pass a Second Test (November 17, 2009): Levee breach plug technology tested by the Department (Infrastructure & Geophysical)
  
  
• The Beginning of the End of the Single-Band Radio for Public Safety (October 20, 2009): Radio technology that lets first responders talk to each other across difference bands will allow departments to improve emergency service and save money (Command, Control & Interoperability)
  
  
• What in Blazes is Going On? (October 13, 2009): Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology sends Ph.D. fireman to help firefighters seek—and get—tougher, safer gear (First Responders)
  
  
• Put a Plug In It! The Super-Duper Plugger-Upper Just Got Better (September 14, 2009): Pressurized testing of tunnel plugs (Infrastructure & Geophysical)
  
  
• Powering American Cities in the New Century (August 7, 2009): Superconducting cables will mean a more powerful, more resilient electric grid (Infrastructure & Geophysical)
  
  
• Tunnel Vision (June 26, 2009): Department scientists want to help Border Patrol agents find tunnels with ground penetrating radar technology (Borders & Maritime)
  
  
• To Boldly Go Where No Medical Response Has Gone Before (May 20, 2009): Technology to capture a disaster victim’s vital signs from up to 40 feet away (First Responders)
  
  
• Cerebral Melodies (April 22, 2009): Improving emergency response through music (Human Factors)
  
  
• Success Strewn Amidst the Wreckage (April 17, 2009): Inexpensive memory chips inside new forensic cameras for mass transit protection survive a massive explosion (Explosives)
  
  
• Reap What You Search (April 8, 2009): Department of Homeland Security software seeks to harvest Department of Energy research (Laboratory Research)
  
  
• Journeys with Germs (March 25, 2009): A Berkeley environmental health scientist calculates the infection potential of coughs and sneezes (Chemical & Biological)
  
  
• Toxic Chemical Spilled in Los Angeles, but the expert is in Los Alamos? No problem! (March 18, 2009): A new detection system beams readings from the hot zone to scientists around the world (Chemical & Biological)
  
  
• Fingers, Meet Photons (March 11, 2009): Virtual 3-D light technology is being developed to digitize your digits more accurately with less mess (Infrastructure & Geophysical)
  
  
• Lights, Camera, Ka-Boom! (March 5, 2009): Inexpensive, lightweight bomb-proof cameras may help protect mass transit (Explosives)
  
  
• Lost in Digital Translation (February 25, 2009): To improve firefighters' radios, recording garbled speech is the first step toward clearing it up. (Command, Control & Interoperability)
  
  
• Science Aids Hudson Rescue Workers (February 13, 2009): Underwater sensors used in response and recovery of US Airways Flight 1549 (Borders & Maritime)
  
  
• Good Liquid, Bad Liquid (February 5, 2009): Los Alamos scientists successfully test system that detects potentially explosive liquids, gels, and lotions (Explosives)

Pre-2009 articles are available in our S&T Snapshots Archives.