Connecting Research and Experts with Journalists

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Down in the green, rolling hills and farmlands of Kentucky, Darrell Taulbee can often be found mixing up a batch of his homegrown fertilizer. But Taulbee isn't looking to grow a better Big Boy or distill a smoother bourbon, he tells us. Funded by the University of Kentucky and the Homeland Security's Science & Technology Directorate (S&T), he sets his sights on something far more sinister. Darrell Taulbee putters with this stuff to make sure another Oklahoma bombing never happens again.

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"A hard rain's a-gonna fall," Dylan sang. But when rain and storm surges fall on lands protected by weak levees, this means trouble"¦big trouble. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita were devastating reminders of this frightening fact. How then can we limit trouble when a levee breaches or, better yet, prevent such a break from ever happening again?

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The world is a different place beyond the ocean horizon, where thousands of merchant ships ply the all the world's waterways. How do these ships come by their cargos, and in what untamed ports? Along the journey, pry open a container and what will you find? If you're not sure, that spells danger.

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These days, a drive across a bridge is not always a pleasure cruise. Mindful of the war on terrorism, it can often be a cautious experience. This summer, the possibility of sabotage was quickly examined"”then dismissed"”when the I35W bridge tragically collapsed in Minneapolis.

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A plot to blow up transatlantic airplanes with liquid explosives was uncovered in London in August 06, and pressure has increased to find new ways to detect liquids. Now, Homeland Security's Science & Technology Directorate is teaming with scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory to develop a possible solution.

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In any one day, homeland security and law enforcement agencies might sift through thousands of complex and often contradictory clues about potential terrorist threats. To thwart another September 11, analysts must meld the encyclopedic eye of Google-age technology with Sherlock Holmes's inductive genius.

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There's safety (and security) in numbers " -- especially when those numbers are random. That's the lesson learned from a DHS-sponsored research project out of the University of Southern California (USC). The research is already helping to beef up security at LAX airport in Los Angeles, and it could soon be used across the country to predict and minimize risk.

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When first responders and security guards came to the DHS Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate's Tell-Us-What-You-Need table, heading their list was an emergency escape hood worthy of James Bond. It was a very tall order.

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Move over, drills, saws, and jackhammers. Now there's something much faster for search-and-rescue missions. And, Homeland Security's new Concrete Buster just won a technology Best-of-the-Year Award from Popular Science.

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What's possible when a group of scientists are inspired by a famous superhero and a giant creature from the sea? How about a new technology for stopping the bad guys in their tracks?