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Armed with Science has written 159 articles so far, you can find them below.

From Garbage to Gas: Today’s Military Goes Green

Filed under Earth Sciences by Armed with Science on March 23, 2011 at 12:49 pm {2 comments}

This blog post was shared by the Advanced Materials Manufacturing and Testing Information Analysis Center. It is the 12th post in our 22-part series produced by the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC).

Waste to energy technologies can help reduce the amount of fuel needed at forward operating locations, while minimizing waste that must be disposed. (Courtesy photo)

These days, most people like going to the gas station as much as going to the dentist. With the cost of gas slowly creeping upwards, consumers are starting to feel the pinch at the pump.

Now imagine filling up a military vehicle that weighs nearly 10 times your average family car with a much larger fuel tank. Many of these vehicles are currently in Afghanistan with our deployed forces, where fuel is even harder to come by.

The U.S. military uses fuel not only for its vehicles, but also for power generation at forward operating bases. Transporting fuel through the rugged, mountainous country adds enormous security, cost, and logistical considerations. However, just as your car and house require energy to sustain your way of life, our forces cannot carry out their vital mission without fuel for vehicles and power for facilities.

As such, they are necessities. Since our forces literally cannot live without these resources, they have made significant efforts to use them more efficiently, and are actively seeking alternatives that reduce dependence on petroleum.

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Navy Medical Researchers Explore Preventative Malaria Vaccines

Filed under Life Sciences, STEM by Armed with Science on March 21, 2011 at 8:00 am {no comments}

Capt. Thomas Richie, director of the Navy’s Malaria Program at the Naval Medical Research Center, Silver Spring, MD and the research coordinator of the U.S. Military Malaria Vaccine Program.

By: Capt. Thomas Richie, director of the Navy’s Malaria Program at the Naval Medical Research Center, Silver Spring, MD and the research coordinator of the U.S. Military Malaria Vaccine Program

Protecting our fighting forces against infectious threats such as malaria is why Navy Medicine and our sister services continuously conduct medical research. We want to provide our forward-deployed forces with the best in force health protection.

Military personnel are at risk of developing malaria, a multi-staged parasitic infection, while deployed in endemic areas and we continue our research work to provide the best safeguards for them. Malaria is found in most tropical regions of the world, and also some subtropical areas such as Afghanistan and Korea. The malaria parasite is transmitted by the bite of the female anopheles mosquito. This infectious threat can compromise the integrity of our military missions by sickening our troops, and this can happen within ten or twelve days of arriving in the operating theatre. The worst cases can lead to death.

The importance of malaria to the U.S. military was illustrated by the mission-altering evacuation of 43 Marines from the West African country of Liberia in 2003. Five of these Marines required intensive care before recovering, and in December 2009, a Seabee also deployed to Liberia died of malaria. The U.S. Military Malaria Vaccine Program (USMMVP) is a combined Army-Navy research and development initiative that represents more than 20 years of research with a focus on creating vaccines to prevent malaria.

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Modified X-51A Waverider Ready for Next Hypersonic Test

Filed under Physical Sciences, Podcast, STEM by Armed with Science on March 18, 2011 at 11:11 am {no comments}

The X-51A Waverider is designed to ride on its own shockwave and accelerate to about Mach 6. (Air Force)

The Air Force currently plans to fly its second X-51A Waverider hypersonic flight test demonstrator as early as March 22, program officials said March 15.

“We are proud of the first flight results, and at the same time we understand the inherent risk in a high-technology demonstrator like the X-51A. We can’t wait to get this second vehicle in the air and show what we can do,” said Curtis Berger, Director, Hypersonics Programs, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, which built the X-51A’s fuel-cooled supersonic combustion ramjet, or scramjet engine.

Four X-51As were built for the Air Force by Boeing and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. The X-51A made history on its inaugural hypersonic flight test on May 26, 2010 when it was launched from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. tucked under the wing of a B-52, released, and ultimately accelerated to Mach 5 under scramjet power. It was about 10 times longer than any previous hypersonic scramjet flight and “80 to 90 percent” of flight test objectives were achieved, program officials said.

Listen to the full Bloggers Roundtable, or read the transcript.

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Inside Operation Deep Freeze – Part 3

Filed under Education & Culture, Videos by Armed with Science on March 11, 2011 at 9:53 am {no comments}

This blog post was contributed by MSgt Lee E. Hoover Jr., a Combat Correspondent at McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base, Tennessee, as a follow up to our Dispatches from Antarctica series. MSgt Hoover recently traveled to Antarctica to produce a video series highlighting Air Force and Air National Guard operations throughout the continent, including the South Pole.

Antarctica is the coldest, driest, windiest, and most inhospitable climate on Earth. That’s what they told me before I left, and I believe it. It’s impressive how fast the weather changes there. In a span of fifteen minutes, it can go from bright sunny skies to wind gusts that essentially cut off visibility.

It’s not an easy place to work, but the people down there do so with success. The last part of the video covers the challenges the weather brings and how the aircrews adapt and overcome.

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Guesstimates, Fuzzy Logic and Believe it or Not…Better Decision Making

Filed under Featured, STEM by Armed with Science on March 9, 2011 at 1:21 pm {no comments}

This blog post was shared by the Weapons Systems Technology Information Analysis Center. It is the tenth post in our 22-part series produced by the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC).

U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Andrew Lee

Computers make our modern lifestyle possible, processing mountains of data at the speed of light. However, computers rely on something known as binary processing, meaning something either “is” or “is not.”

Complex software code is required to address all possible environments, factors, and considerations in order to develop a solution. Conversely, humans can come up with very good solutions using incomplete data and inexact methods.

For example, when you have an important appointment, you estimate the time it will take to travel to your destination to avoid being late. Without having exact data, you approximate and combine various factors such as distance, weather, traffic, and other intangibles and derive a “fuzzy inference” that allows you to decide when to depart and what route to take. More often than not, your “guesstimate” gets you to your destination on time.

A similar notion can be applied to the weather. If it is pouring outside, it’s clearly “raining”. If it is sunny and clear, it’s clearly “not raining”.

But, what if it’s sunny and there is an occasional intermittent sprinkle? Is it raining or not? The determination is “fuzzy”. The process of using approximate data and analysis to produce answers encompasses the science of fuzzy logic.

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Coming Soon to an App Store Near You: Mobile Technology for Information Collection and Dissemination

Filed under Physical Sciences, Technology by Armed with Science on March 2, 2011 at 11:56 am {no comments}

DACS will soon publish a report on the "Use of Mobile Technology for Information Collection and Dissemination."

This blog post was shared by the Data & Analysis Center for Software. It is the ninth post in our 22-part series produced by the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC).

Have you ever wondered how the government is embracing the world of mobile technology? If so, you’re in luck.

The Data & Analysis Center for Software (DACS) will soon publish a Critical Review/Technology Assessment Report on the “Use of Mobile Technology for Information Collection and Dissemination.” This report, focused on government organizations considering mobile technology, examines how new mobile technology such as the iPhone, iPad, and Android based devices have completely revolutionized the way information can be both collected and distributed. As a result, numerous organizations like the Department of Defense (DOD), the U.S. Army, and the Department of Homeland Security have already begun leveraging mobile technology as an information medium.

So, why should an organization embrace mobile based technology? Easy – convenience and flexibility. These applications provide soldiers in the field with the ability to access critical operational information regardless of their location. This could include anything from classified intelligence to maps. All of this information can be requested and received virtually instantaneously using mobile technology. Additionally, when used in conjunction with add-on sensors, mobile devices can be used to detect and map such events as chemical and biological attacks.

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Army Smartphone Evaluation Could Change How Soldiers Learn

Filed under Podcast, Technology by Armed with Science on March 1, 2011 at 5:42 pm {no comments}

Lt. Gen. Vane, Deputy Commanding General, Futures and Director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center.

It’s not written in stone that every Soldier will get an Android phone or an iPhone — but signs are pointing to it.

During a DODLive Bloggers Roundtable Feb. 24, Lt. Gen. Michael Vane, director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center, discussed the latest developments in how the Army is evaluating smartphone technologies and software applications to provide Soldiers the ability to learn anytime and anywhere.

Listen to the full interview.

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Navy Doctor’s Work in ‘Mirror Therapy’ Benefits Military Amputees

Filed under Life Sciences by Armed with Science on February 28, 2011 at 4:42 pm {no comments}

Navy Cmdr. (Dr.) Jack Tsao helps Army Sgt. Nicholas Paupore at Walter Reed Army Medical Center through the application of Mirror Therapy. Paupore was a 101st Airborne Division artilleryman who was serving on a military transition team training Iraqi troops when he was wounded in July 2006. Photo by Navy Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jeff Hopkins

Cmdr. Jack Tsao is the director of Traumatic Brain Injury programs at theU.S. Bureau of Navy Medicine and Surgery.

In the last five years, through my academic affiliation appointment at the Uniformed Services University, I’ve had the opportunity to work with some amazing people at Walter Reed Army Medical Center including COL Paul Pasquina (head of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation) and COL (ret.) Charles Scoville to examine why Mirror Therapy seems to be an effective treatment in what is a common phenomenon in Wounded Warriors with amputation: Phantom Limb Pain (PLP).

Phantom Limb Pain is the sensation that a limb is still present and experiencing pain following amputation and occurs in 90 percent of amputees. Often an amputee begins to experience this phenomenon immediately after surgery; this is typically followed by a gradual fading of the limb from memory. Patients frequently report that this phantom limb is stuck in an uncomfortable position or has the sensation of pain, electric shocks, or itching. There are an infinite variety of sensations associated with PLP, from merely uncomfortable to debilitating, but they have one thing in common: pharmacologic therapies are generally ineffectual.

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