A smart phone that can detect radiation may soon be helping the police to find the raw materials for radioactive ?dirty bombs? before they are deployed. The phones will glean data as the officers carrying them go about their daily business, and the information will be used to draw up maps of radiation that will expose illicit stores of nuclear material.
New research shows that the sun is more active now than it has been for over 1100 years. The increase in solar activity will have an impact on satellites, energy grids, and the current debate over global warming.
A new project will harness volunteers' computers to put error bars on the global warming predictions made by climate models.
The particles generated by cosmic rays crashing into the Earth's atmosphere could reveal nuclear material and other dense objects hidden inside cars, trucks and sea containers. The objects can be detected because the particles are deflected by dense matter.