News Releases
Naval Medics Are Going Digital
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 -...
January 01, 2002
Leaner, Meaner Aircraft Carriers
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...
January 01, 2002
Microchip Gives Blind Chance of Sight
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...
January 01, 2002
Roger Scramjet
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...
January 01, 2002
Innovative Chip Design Has Potential as Artificial Retina
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...
January 01, 2002
Hiding in the Noise and Chaos
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...
January 01, 2002
Rembrandt and the U.S. Navy
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...
January 01, 2002
"Call Me Ishmael."
In the deep waters two miles south of Edgartown on Martha's Vineyard, not far from where, two centuries ago, the likes of Captain Ahab and a thousand others kept their watch for the great white and his kin, we are now searching to understand another potential beast in those parts: the ocean and the...
January 01, 2002
Nobel Laureates Chill Out
More accurate navigational aids such as gyroscopes, next-generation sensors including magnetic and gravitational sensors and clocks - will all get a boost from the research from the latest physics Nobel Prize winners, who have been supported for years by the Office of Naval Research.* Eric Cornell...
January 01, 2002
Navy's New Gunk-O'Lyzer?
Scientist John Reintjes is what you might call a 'build a better mousetrap' type-of-guy. About ten years ago, he watched as Navy ships took regular oil samples from their lubricating systems and sent them ashore to be analyzed. Fine debris and particulate matter suspended in a ship's oil reservoirs...
January 01, 2002