Hubbard Radio Washington DC, LLC. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
ASMC The Business of Defense
-
![]()
Charles Stephenson Co-author, \"The Beat! Go-Go Music From Washington, D.C.\" Lisa Schlosser Director, Information Collection Office of Environmental Information, Environmental Protection Agency Bob Hill District Advisor, First Command
July 22, 2010 -
![]()
The Associated Press says it\'s obtained a thousand emails showing DHS sent FOIA requests to senior political advisers who turned scoured them for information about the requesters and delaying disclosures deemed too politically sensitive. DHS spokesman Sean Smith says, they were just giving senior leadership visibility into FOIA releases to enable the Department to be as responsive as possible. FOIA\'s are designed to be insulated from political considerations. AP says DHS stopped the practice after their investigation.
July 22, 2010 -
![]()
NASA\'s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, called WISE, has just completed its first survey of the entire sky. The globe-trotting satellite has generated more than one million images so far, of everything from asteroids to distant galaxies. The mission scanned strips of the sky as it orbited around the Earth\'s poles since it launched last December. One pictured region shows the Pleiades cluster of stars, also known as the Seven Sisters, resting in a tangled bed of wispy dust, highlighting the telescope\'s ability to take wide shots of vast regions of space. So far, WISE has observed more than 100,000 asteroids, both known and previously unseen, most lying in a belt between Mars and Jupiter. 90 of them are new near-Earth objects.
July 21, 2010 -
![]()
Officials with USAID - the U.S. Agency for International Development - recently gathered many of the world\'s leading scientists and development thinkers, along with leaders of key federal science agencies, to help map out a new Science, Technology and Innovation strategy. More than 60 experts from around the world spent two days discussing issues and how technology might provide solutions. One of the specific goals will be bridging the divide between the interests of the public and private sectors. The conference was the first step in helping USAID to identify what agency leaders call \"grand challenges\" and explore how science, technology, and innovation can be used to solve them. USAID officials have now appointed the first science advisor the Agency has had in 19 years as well as established a new dedicated Science and Technology office.
July 21, 2010 -
![]()
New battery materials developed by the Department of Energy\'s Pacific Northwest National Lab and a Maryland company could enable electric vehicles, power tools and even cell phones to recharge in minutes rather than hours. In collaboration with a Princeton University researcher, the Lab has demonstrated that small quantities of graphene - an ultra-thin sheet of carbon atoms - can dramatically improve the power and stability of lithium-ion batteries, while maintaining high energy storage capacity. The pioneering work could lead to the development of batteries that store larger amounts of energy and recharge quickly. Today, a typical cell phone battery takes between two and five hours to fully recharge. Researchers think using new battery materials with graphene could cut recharge time to less than 10 minutes.
July 21, 2010 -
![]()
The University of California San Diego along with General Atomics are about to begin work on developing a new kind of flow battery technology that pumps chemicals through a battery cell when electricity is needed. The development of the battery would revolutionize current century-old lead-acid battery technology - creating low cost, high efficiency and reliability needed for use on the smart electrical power grid. This project is receiving $2 million dollars in funding through the U.S. Department of Energy and APRA-E, the Advanced Project Research Agency devoted to Energy research. The goal is the production of a battery that can be scaled for grid-scale energy storage but which costs less and performs far longer than current technologies.
July 21, 2010 -
![]()
A Milwaukee-based company is about to begin research on an alternative form of refrigeration for cooling buildings, under a $2-point-nine million dollar energy research grant funded through the federal stimulus package. Using a solid state cooling technology, the privately held Astronautics Corporation of America will research a type of magnetic refrigeration that does not rely on a liquid-based refrigerant. Energy Department officials say, if successful, the breakthrough system could achieve significant energy efficiency, greatly reducing system operating costs compared to conventional compression systems, in addition to producing zero greenhouse gases. In all, $30 million dollars in grant money is being given to 17 different projects around the country that focus on a variety of novel approaches to air-conditioning.
July 21, 2010 -
![]()
Scientists led by the National Institutes of Health have discovered antibodies that will prevent most HIV strains from infecting human cells. Two potent human antibodies have been found to stop more than 90 percent of known global HIV strains from infecting human cells in the lab. Scientists have even demonstrated how one of the disease-fighting proteins is able to do it. They found the antibodies using a novel molecular device that homes in on the specific cells that make antibodies that fight HIV. According to the scientists, the antibodies could be used to design improved HIV vaccines, or could be further developed to prevent or treat HIV infection. Moreover, the method used to find the antibodies could be used to find therapeutic antibodies for other infectious diseases.
July 21, 2010 -
![]()
The Pentagon is feed up with leaks. \"Over the last two years I\'ve lost a first rate central command commander, and an outstanding commander of ISAF in Afghanistan due to their own missteps in dealing with the media, says Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates. He adds\' \"if you\'re a Captain in a unit that has an embedded reporter\", be as open as possible within the guidelines and rules, but \"if you\'re a Captain working in this building on budget options, I expect you to keep your mouth shut.\"
July 20, 2010 -
![]()
A judge in Denver has ruled that a federal law making it illegal to lie about being a war hero is unconstitutional because it violates free speech. The Associated Press reported the ruling, came in the case of Rick Glen Strandlof, a Colorado man who claimed he was an ex-Marine wounded in Iraq and had received the Purple Heart and Silver Star. The military had no record that Strandlof served. Strandlof was charged with violating the Stolen Valor Act, which makes it illegal to falsely claim to have won a military medal.
July 19, 2010 -
![]()
July 19th and 21st Hear from FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate, Federal Environment Executive Michelle Moore, Dr. David Blumenthal on Health IT, Rich Haley on managing financial resources at the FBI, Professor Tom Davenport on analytics and making better decisions, and Alec Ross on using social media to advance U.S. diplomatic goals. All of this and more next week on The Business of Government Magazine show
July 16, 2010 -
![]()
July 12th and 14th Given our size, we have an obligation to embrace green ways of doing business. It\'s our objective to ultimately become known as a world class sustainability leader.
July 16, 2010 -
![]()
July 5th and 7th Successful partnerships are characterized by complementary equities, openness and transparency, mutual benefit, shared risks and rewards, and accountability.
July 16, 2010 -
![]()
The Army is no longer using the term \"psychological operations\" for the unit in tasked with changing minds behind enemy lines. They say it sounds threatening. Now it\'s going to be called Military Information Support Operations. A U.S. Special Operations Command spokesman says more the new name more accurately reflects the unit\'s job of producing leaflets, radio broadcasts and loudspeaker messages to influence enemy soldiers and civilians.
July 15, 2010
