A research project funded by the U.S. Air Force and taking place among academics in Texas is advancing a new class of metamaterials that could open up a range of applications for defense requirements. By finding new methods for creating synthetic compounds, scientists believe they can develop nanomaterials with properties better suited for products such as electronics than anything found in nature.

Microsoft and Google are two of the most recognized company names in the world. And just as they revolutionized the past, these leaders are striving to invent the future.

Devices and dictionaries for converting basic phrases from one language to another are common tools for travelers in foreign countries. But when understanding context, dialect and personalities offers the chance to stop an attack or catch a terrorist, official personnel need more sophisticated technology.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is putting the finishing touches on planning and is beginning the transition to the most profound restructuring in its history. Wherever they are based, all who work with NATO will be affected by this restructuring. NATO headquarters staff is being reduced by as much as 40 percent. NATO agencies are being reduced from 13 to three. The force structure is being enhanced, but the command and control elements of the force structure are being streamlined to make NATO more responsive.

The worst attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor changed everything. Nowhere is that more true than at the federal agency that was stood up almost two years after 9/11 to make sure that such an attack never happens again—the Department of Homeland Security.

The agency that administers patents among the nations of the European Union is about to receive some high-technology help from across the Internet. And, it will do so without a single euro changing hands.

This is as simple as a tale of two airports.

As the U.S. human space program transitions to a new era of commercial space exploitation, a legacy space debris detection system is about to give way to a high-technology replacement designed to introduce state-of-the-art situational awareness to orbital mechanics. The new system would be able to detect objects in earth orbit as small as the golf ball that astronaut Alan Shepard smacked during his moonwalk.

By July 2012, NATO officials expect to have established three new agencies as part of a major reform effort that will reduce the number of agencies from the current 14. NATO now is in the process of implementing agency reform, as well as overhauling its command structure.

Although women make up nearly 50 percent of the U.S. work force, they fill less than 25 percent of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) positions. The unequal share of women in STEM is particularly apparent in the engineering field, where only one out of every seven engineers is female. This vast gender gap restricts the United States in the global race for a high-tech work force.