News Releases

Marines Take a Byte Out Of Complex Mission Planning "When carrying out a mission, Marine aviators don't take off without a plan," says ONR science officer Tom McKenna. "A definitive plan is critical. This is because flight schedules are more than just timetables-any scheduling must consider the...

Figuring there had to be a better way of keeping track of available beds, medical equipment and blood supplies in the field, rather than depending on information relayed by phone and then scribbled on a white board with a grease pencil, the Office of Naval Research has come up with an answer -...

A new type of analog processor that is compact while offering extremely fast computations for image processing could possibly lead to the creation of an artificial eye that has the potential to replace damaged human retinas, offering sight to the blind if the chip works as planned. The cellular...

Building an Aircraft Carreir Hull is No Small Matter In shipbuilding, some things never change...When its first steel-hulled ships were being built in the late 19th century, the Navy was a tough customer. Not only was the shipbuilder required to conform to the 'tests of steel' prescribed by the...

With the expected 70,000 daily visitors to the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City this month, reliable communications are essential. Even the best laid plan needs a backup, and that's why the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington, D.C., has its mobile communications center ready in Salt...

A computer chip implanted near the eye's retina is well on its way to offering some restored vision to people blinded by eye diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa and age-related degeneration of the eye. The implant works for eye diseases where healthy retinal neurons remain intact after they lose...

Your rich uncle dies and leaves you a painted masterpiece he's had hidden away for years. But, it's scratched, torn, and much of the paint has flaked away. You could take it to a painting restorationist, but this can take months and in any case, restoration is very subjective. What to do? You call a...

In a wind tunnel in Hampton, Virginia , on the 30th of May this year, a new kind of cruise missile engine, called a scramjet, was fired up. Just like any other cruise missile engine, it used conventional liquid hydrocarbon fuel, but this one was a mite different. In simulated hypersonic conditions...

Communicating with Light Polarization A new and novel way of communicating over fiber optics is being developed by physicists supported by the Office of Naval Research. Rather than using the amplitude and frequency of electromagnetic waves, they're using the polarization of the wave to carry the...

Dreaming of the potential of thermocouple devices? Well, perhaps not… but maybe you should. The October 11th issue of the respected British science journal Nature says there has been a major breakthrough recently in the world of thermoelectric materials.