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Emotional attachment to robots could affect outcome on battlefield

By Guest PostSeptember 19, 2013Weaponsbiological, chemical, disarm explosives, disposal military, emotional attachment; robots, explosive ordnance, field robots, human robot attachment, jeremy l wood, julie carpenter, military, nuclear weapons, personnel, radiological, roomba, soldiers, united states

Too busy to vacuum your living room? Let Roomba the robot do it. Don’t want to risk a soldier’s life to disable an explosive? Let a robot do it.

It’s becoming more common to have robots sub in for humans to do dirty or sometimes dangerous work. But researchers are finding that in some cases, people have started to treat robots like pets, friends, or even as an extension of themselves. That raises the question, if a soldier attaches human or animal-like characteristics to a field robot, can it affect how they use the robot? What if they “care” too much about the robot to send it into a dangerous situation? (more…)

Commentary: Sergei Khrushchev – The Cuban Missile Crisis, 50 years later

By Guest PostOctober 18, 2012Politics13 day, 50th anniversary, air strike, american, american mythology, balance, berlin, brown, Cuba, cuban, cuban invasion, diplomatic lesson, enemy, europeans, ex comm, executive committee, iranian republic, john kennedy, middle east, missile base, missile crisis, nikita khrushchev, nuclear exchange, nuclear weapons, october, power, president, president castro, president kennedy, President Obama, psychological crisis, resolution, russian premier, russians, secret, sergei khrushchev, slavic language, southern america, soviet bloc, soviet union, tense time, united states, victory, weapon

October marks the 50th anniversary of of the 13-day Cuban Missile Crisis, when President John F. Kennedy discovered that the Soviet Union was building secret missile bases in Cuba. Forgoing the option of a Cuban invasion or air strikes, Kennedy asked Russian Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev to remove all weapons from the island, and on Oct. 28, 1962, Khrushchev conceded, halting the standoff. Here, Khrushchev’s son, Sergei Khrushchev, visiting professor of Slavic languages at Brown, reflects on the diplomatic lessons.

The perspective of the crisis has changed over time and today the history of the crisis is more focused not on the confrontation, but on cooperation.

The Cuban Missile Crisis showed that two leaders decided not to shoot first, but to think and negotiate with each other. And today that is very unusual, because we think we can only negotiate with friends. Today, we impose unconditional surrender and nobody surrenders unconditionally until fully defeated. (more…)

UMD Poll: Israelis Wary of Striking Iran Nuclear Facilities

By Guest PostMarch 2, 2012Politicsairstrike, american punishment, Barack Obama, benjamin netanyahu, dahaf institute, hezbollah, iran, Israel, israeli jews, israeli prime minister, israeli public, mitt romney, newt gingrich, nuclear program, nuclear weapons, presidential race, public opinion, ron paul, santorum, shibley telhami, university of maryland, us president, Washington

COLLEGE PARK, Maryland – The Israeli public is wary of launching airstrikes aimed at disrupting Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons, reports a new public opinion poll by researchers at the University of Maryland.

Only 19 of percent of all Israelis favored a go-it-alone strike by Israel, while 42 percent supported a strike only with U.S. backing, and 34 percent opposed any strike. Survey findings for Israeli Jews closely paralleled the results for the entire population of the nation. (more…)

Going to War: The Relationship Among the Media, the Public and the President

By Guest PostJune 4, 2011Media, Politicsal qaeda, axis of evil, bush administration, develop anthrax, evil dictator, Iraq, iraq war agenda, iraqi regime, media and presidential agenda, nerve gas, nuclear weapons, President Bush, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, public relations, real world issue, Saddam Hussein, shahira fahmy, war, war on terror, WMD

*In a new study, journalism associate professor Shahira Fahmy found the media and presidential agenda had only a limited influence on public concern for the war with Iraq. Public concern influenced how much space former President Bush devoted to issues on his Iraq war agenda, and the press also had some limited influence on the issues stressed by the president.*

Only four months after Sept. 11, 2001, former President Bush identified Iraq as a member of the “axis of evil,” a problem, which if gone unchecked, would endanger the nation’s freedom and security.

As part of the public relations buildup before going to war with Iraq, the former president explained that the Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax, and nerve gas and nuclear weapons for more than a decade. He said this is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world. (more…)

Nuclear Materials Detector Shows Exact Location of Radiation Sources

By Guest PostNovember 3, 2010Science18 cubes, cadmium zinc telluride, conventional detectors, gamma ray detector, gamma rays, high energy photons, nuclear engineering, nuclear materials, nuclear weapons, particles of light, polaris, radiation, radiation source, semiconductor, university of michigan, zhong he

The new Polaris gamma ray detector can pinpoint the location of special nuclear materials, such as those used for dirty bombs or nuclear weapons. Image credit: Zhong He

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— A table-top gamma-ray detector created at the University of Michigan can not only identify the presence of dangerous nuclear materials, but can pinpoint and show their exact location and type, unlike conventional detectors.

“Other gamma ray detectors can tell you perhaps that nuclear materials are near a building, but with our detector, you can know the materials are in room A, or room B, for example,” said Zhong He, an associate professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences.

“This is the first instrument for this purpose that can give you a real-time image of the radiation source. Not only can we tell you what material is there, but we can tell you where it is, and you can find it and walk towards it.” (more…)

Tag Archives: nuclear weapons

Emotional attachment to robots could affect outcome on battlefield

Commentary: Sergei Khrushchev – The Cuban Missile Crisis, 50 years later

UMD Poll: Israelis Wary of Striking Iran Nuclear Facilities

Going to War: The Relationship Among the Media, the Public and the President

Nuclear Materials Detector Shows Exact Location of Radiation Sources