The Multi-Mode Sensor Seeker (MMSS), a sensor which is a mix of high-definition cameras, mid-wave infrared sensors and laser-radar (LADAR) technology, will start airborne tests this summer. It will be placed on a robotic helicopter called Fire Scout and carry advanced automatic target recognition software, so sensor prototype will allow Fire Scout to autonomously identify small boats on the water, reducing the workload of sailors operating it from control stations aboard Navy ships.

Look out pirates. You're now that much easier to find. 

Despite claims that there is not enough diversity in anonymous, voluntary efforts, it often comes down to choice.  Women are not discriminated against on Wikipedia, though more men do it, and white people are not prevented from blogging just because more black people do it.  

Black people, nee African-Americans in American sociology papers, are more likely to blog than their white and Hispanic counterparts, according to surveys analyzed by a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley - one and a half times to nearly twice as much as whites.

Illicit drug use is more common in older people than ever before - but that's because they did it the most when they were younger and they are more likely than ever to survive into old age.

New research published in Age and Ageing found that the lifetime use of cannabis, amphetamine, cocaine and LSD in 50-64 year olds has significantly increased since 1993 and is much higher than lifetime use in adults aged over 65. The study also found that drug use in inner London was higher than the overall UK average.

The study analyzed data on illicit drug use from two household surveys*. The most recent national survey included 2,009 people aged 65 and 1,827 people aged 55-65. The inner London survey included 284 and 176 people in these respective age groups

Palaeontologists have found that not all Easter eggs come from the same “parent” species -  some could be from dinosaurs, including a new species from the Pyrenees. An international group of researchers has helped to determine that dinosaurs have shaped the Easter eggs we buy.

Scientists were investigating whether 70 million-year-old fossil eggs found in the Pyrenees were laid by birds, or their dinosaur ancestors - researchers from the University of Leicester extended the study further by comparing Easter egg shapes to those of birds’ and dino eggs.

Researchers have gotten some clues to primitive consciousness - thanks to anesthesia.

People are often groggy when waking from anesthesia, and sometimes struggle. A group of  scientists believe they now know why this may occur: primitive consciousness emerges first.

 Using brain imaging techniques in healthy volunteers, a team of scientists have now imaged the process of returning consciousness after general anesthesia. The emergence of consciousness was found to be associated with activations of deep, primitive brain structures rather than the evolutionary younger neocortex. They hope these results may represent an important step forward in the scientific explanation of human consciousness. 

A previously unknown species of giant, feathered tyrannosaur has been discovered in China, making it the largest-known feathered animal, living or extinct.

Tyrannosaurus rex and its cousins lived until around 65 million years ago and earlier relatives are thought to have been much smaller than the T-Rex we have come to know, but this notion has been challenged by the discovery of three specimens of a new species of tyrannosauroid from the Lower Cretaceous, 125 million years ago. The dinosaur, Yutyrannus huali, whose name translates from Latin and Mandarin as ‘beautiful feathered tyrant’, shares some features with derived tyrannosaurs, but has three-fingered forelimbs and a typical theropod foot, like other early tyrannosaur relatives.