infrared

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Mega-Rich Security Measures Boggle the Mind

Infrared cameras and 30-story underground panic rooms are on the list

(Newser) - The world's mega-rich are beyond guard dogs and fences in their quest for home security these days—and even panic rooms are old hat. So what's new? Try infrared cameras that can detect a human heat signature at 1,000 yards in the bushes. Or face/voice/behavioral recognition systems...

Lab Rats Acquire 'Sixth Sense'
 Lab Rats Acquire 'Sixth Sense' 
Feb 18, 2013 8:48 AM CST

Lab Rats Acquire 'Sixth Sense'

Paging Bruce Willis?

(Newser) - A group of lab rats at North Carolina's Duke University has acquired an enviable ability: a "sixth sense." Scientists say they found a way to enable the rats to detect infrared light that would otherwise go unseen. The Verge explains the mechanics of the feat, which involved...

Next Up for Tablets: Eye-Control Technology?

NPR reporter says it's 'pretty amazing'

(Newser) - One day you may open apps with the blink of an eye. That's the wish of tech experts in Copenhagen, who are already using eye-control technology for people with disabilities, NPR reports. The only glitch: Tablets don't yet have infrared light that can pick up eye movements. But...

NYPD Developing Infrared Gun Scanner

Device can detect concealed weapons from 13 feet away

(Newser) - Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just radiating suspicious energy? The New York City Police Department is working with the Defense Department to develop an infrared scanner that can detect concealed weapons, Commissioner Ray Kelly announced yesterday. The device reads the energy people emit and detects...

Scientists Sneak Up on Invisibility Cloak

Material shields object from view in all directions

(Newser) - German scientists say they have successfully used a new material to render an object invisible in three dimensions for the first time. Previous efforts at so-called invisibility cloaks could only hide objects from light coming in one direction. The material changes the behavior of light rays to "transform space,...

NORAD Sets Sights on Santa
 NORAD Sets Sights on Santa  
ho, ho, ho
Dec 24, 2009 4:44 PM CST

NORAD Sets Sights on Santa

Bizarre tradition dates back to misprinted Christmas ad in 1955

(Newser) - The North American Aerospace Defense Command is ready for its busiest night of the year, when it puts mundane tasks like looking for wandering Russian bombers or North Korean missiles on the back burner and tracks Santa Claus. As it has every Christmas for more than 50 years, NORAD offers...

NASA Launches Telescope to Detect Space Threats

WISE infrared telescope will scan whole sky for hazardous objects

(Newser) - NASA today launched the first orbiting telescope since 1983 designed to search the entire sky for objects and phenomena invisible to conventional optics. Over the next nine months, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer will scan the whole sky one and a half times over looking for asteroids and comets that...

Hi-Res Pic of 'Mona Lisa' Raises Some Eyebrows

Faded pigments and poor cleaning probably obliterated the hair

(Newser) - Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" has eyebrows and eyelashes, according to one French inventor, answering a long-standing question about the haunting image painted some 500 years ago. Pascal Cotte said he made the discovery using a camera that yielded a 150,000-dots-per-inch photograph, CNN reports, magnifying her face 24...

Hot Mommas: Squirrels Use Heat to Scare off Snakes

Rattlers steer clear of hot pieces of tail

(Newser) - Squirrels aren't squirreling out of their ongoing battle with snakes, but they may be turning tail. California ground squirrels are able to intimidate rattlesnakes, researchers have found, by heating their tails 3 degrees; the rattlers perceive infrared waves, and back off. Even more surprising, the squirrels are savvy enough not...

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