NYC attack kills 8, injures 9; suspect in custody.
“This was an act of terror, and a particularly cowardly act of terror,” he said.
[Previous story, posted at 5:19 p.m. ET]
Continue reading “Truck attack in Manhattan kills 8; mayor calls it act of terror” »
With yesterday’s terrible shooting tragedy, I’m hearing lots of calls for more gun control to reduce violence in the US. But that’s essentially impossible to accomplish. There are 300 million guns in America. Congress faces a statistical impossibility to make a real dent in gun control and possession (politicians saying otherwise are playing you for votes—the gov is not going to go house to house to collect guns). HOWEVER, better ways to combat terrorism and gun violence could be achieved through better medicine and figuring out better ways to keep wounded peope alive. We should focus our energy and science money on treating trauma victims (and also on prevention of mental disease and sociopaths). Also, drones can be designed to seek out shooters in public places in 30 seconds and stop what they’re doing (instead of letting them shoot for 10 minutes). Why don’t major public venues and events have them yet? Ask you government? Demand better responses so our society is safer. Also, entreprenuers, get out there and do something about this. Hotels would pay big money for see-through-wall technology that would alert staff that someone has 20 weapons in a room. Lots of this tech is already here. All these terrorism and gun violence issues can be best figured out by tech and science. Stop sending prayers, and instead send some engineers and technologists to solve the problems. This tragic ongoing violence will continue until tech and science solves it.
“If you make the human body virtually indestructible, being wounded loses some of its relevance.”
America is reeling in shock from multiple shooting tragedies. The national feeling is that the violence is increasing in frequency and there’s no end to the angst.
Continue reading “To Combat Radical Violence in America, We Need Radical Medicine” »
https://youtube.com/watch?v=ffOZMTVeM70
Trouble with spying neighbors? Annoyed by teenage pranks? Concerned about terrorists? Kalashnikov has the answer — the new REX-1 Drone Killing Gun — “Looking at the market, I think the civilian version of our system could cost around $5,000…”
Duke Robotics Inc. announces, TIKAD, a dramatic step forward in protecting our troops by developing the resources needed to fight terrorism effectively today.
Governments are spending more than ever before on Defense budgets today, which provides an enormous incentive to solve problems that troops currently face.
It’s getting too easy to create dangerous viruses. The upcoming national biodefense strategy should ensure that scientific journals don’t help terrorists learn how.
The news that researchers have recreated an extinct cousin to the smallpox virus using only commercially available technology and items purchased over the Internet renews concerns that bioterrorists could do the same if detailed information about the methods were published. Here’s the problem: scientific journals are geared toward publication, often without sufficient understanding of the public-security risks. We need a better system to ensure that information that could help bad actors stays unpublished.
It took David Evans’ team of scientists at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, about six months and $100,000 to recreate the horsepox virus, a close relative of the smallpox virus that killed perhaps 300 million people in the 20th century before it was eradicated in 1980. In a summary of the research, the World Health Advisory Committee on Variola Virus Research wrote that “recreation of such viral genomes did not require exceptional biochemical knowledge or skills, significant funds, or significant time.”
Continue reading “The Government Must Review What Bioresearch Journals Publish” »
There is a radio edit (about one half hour) and an unabridged version (about one hour long).
Over the weekend in London we had a terrorist attack near London Bridge Station.
Everyday tourists are constantly uploading images onto social media and are often on the scene before First Responders and are unaware how events are going to unfold.
(after the incident images are uploaded to police / fire /insurance databases as in the London incident …please help our police by uploading any images of the London Bridge incident at http://www.ukpoliceimageappeal.co.uk ).
Continue reading “‘We prefer not to get our bad news from CNN…’ M” »
To Dr. Mark Gomelsky, a professor at the University of Wyoming, genetically engineered therapeutic cells are like troops on a mission.
The first act is training. Using genetic editing tools such as CRISPR, scientists can “train” a patient’s own cells to specifically recognize and attack a variety of enemies, including rogue tumor soldiers and HIV terrorists.
Then comes the incursion. Engineered cells are surgically implanted to the target site, where they’re left to immediately carry out the mission. The problem, says Gomelsky, is adding a command center “that could coordinate their activities in real time according to the developing situation,” such as telling cells when to activate and when to stop.
Continue reading “These Cells Are Engineered to Be Controlled by a Smartphone” »
More mind reading technology and this time they can tell us if the person scanned is thinking about murder.
Brain scans could soon read minds and single out potential criminals before they commit any crimes, researchers claim.
Other uses of functional magnetic resonance imaging could include lie detectors in courtrooms, and anti-terrorist screening.
