DuPont business Pioneer Hi-Bred introduced Laser-Assisted Seed Selection to farmers attending the Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa, as the newest tool in its Accelerated Yield Technology (AYT) toolbox. The technology promises to increase the size and scope of the Pioneer breeding program five fold in the next three years.
Laser-Assisted Seed Selection uses a 120-watt carbon dioxide laser to score a small slice from a seed to capture its genetic information while maintaining the seed’s viability for planting. Molecular breeding techniques are used to identify desirable genetic combinations within each individual scored seed slice. Seeds identified to have superior genetics are selected for planting and advancement through the Pioneer research program.
DuPont Unveils Advanced Laser Technology in Accelerating Higher Yield Development.
Thursday Aug 28, 2008 13:21:23 EDT
The laser-guided Joint Direct Attack Munition made its combat debut in Iraq earlier this month, the Air Force announced Wednesday.
The 500-pound bomb, also known as the GBU-54, joined the war when an F-16 Fighting Falcon from the 77th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, Joint Base Balad, used it to strike a moving enemy vehicle in Diyala province. The pilot was working with a joint terminal attack controller on the ground.
Laser-guided bomb makes first strike in Iraq – Air Force News, news from Iraq – Air Force Times.
Using lasers to spot troubled teethbeforecavities form, researchers hope to turn the dentist’s drill into a relic of the 20th century.
The technology, called “Raman spectroscopy” (RS), is not brand new. In fact, scientists in other fields have long been using it to distinguish between various chemicals, based on their unique molecular fingerprints.
But this is the first time RS has been used to identify teeth in the very earliest stages of decay, the British research team said.
“The technique we are working with can tell the difference between [healthy] enamel and decaying enamel, and so in the future, if this technology is further developed, a dentist could identify early decay using it,” explained study co-author Frances Downey, a graduate student with the Biomaterials, Biomimetics & Biophotonics Research Group operating out of the Dental Institute of King’s College London.
Laser Technology Spots Cavities Before They Start – washingtonpost.com.
Rochester police have a new tool to solve crime. The city is testing a new 3D laser scanner. The scanner made by Leica Geosystems is on loan from the A & E Television Network. It is part of the Rochester Police Departments agreement to participate in the reality drama “Crime 360″.
Rochester is one of only six departments in the entire country to use the scanner. Basically, it allows police to take a 3D picture of a scene. “When you have a live scan and you can recreate the scene the way it was right after it happened, the chances of solving the crime increase,” said Sgt. Mike Coon, Rochester Police Department. More at News10NBC.com
ABC News: Forestry Tasmania has found laser beams can more accurately map forest terrain, to help identify which trees should be protected for their carbon stores.
General Motors Corp. researchers are working on a windshield that combines lasers, infrared sensors and a camera to take what’s happening on the road and enhance it, so aging drivers with vision problems are able to see a little more clearly. More at CNN.com
The first passenger plane equipped with a system to repel shoulder-fired missiles successfully completed its flight, a British defense and aerospace company announced Wednesday.
The system aims to protect against fire from missile launchers like these, which were used to fire at an Israeli plane.
Defense system was tested on an American Airlines flight that took off July 11, according to a statement from BAE Systems.
The plane flew from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport in California, the company said.
The JetEye system works by detecting the heat-seeking missiles and then firing a laser, which diverts the missile.
American Airlines refused to make the system mandatory on all trips but agreed to cooperate with the tests.
The flight represents the final phase of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Counter-Man-Portable Air Defense System program, designed to test the suitability of missile-protection equipment for commercial aircraft.
VIa: CNN.com
HOW do you study several thousand dinosaur footprints spread across 2 kilometres of a soft-rock outcrop at a slant of 60 degrees? Zap them with a laser.
The footprints, at the Fumanya site in the southern Pyrenees in Spain, record the passage of huge long-necked dinosaurs called titanosaurs across a muddy area about 70 million years ago. The problem is that the footprint layer is soft and crumbling, and climbing the steep surface could damage the tracks.
So Phil Manning of the University of Manchester, UK, and his team scanned the surface with LIDAR – a laser technique that maps features in a similar way to radar. The scanner and allied software generated a detailed 3D contour map of the surface and prints (Palaeontology, DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2008.00789.x).
Via: NewScientist
Canada. Armed with legal advice that the systems can be classified as warning devices, the Canadian military wants to proceed with the purchase of laser weapons designed to temporarily blind people.
But a group opposed to the purchase of the equipment says any use of the so-called “laser dazzlers” in Afghanistan violates international law and sets a dangerous precedent. Read more…
