FINDER Continues Rescue Hunt in Nepal Earthquake Aftermath as Heart Beat Detector Device Saves Lives

""The latest tech from NASA just saved the lives of four people trapped in the rubble left from the recent earthquake in Nepal. NASA's FINDER (Finding Individuals for Disaster and Emergency Response) located people by using a microwave radar that could sense and then locate their heartbeats. The prototype devices are a joint effort from NASA and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate. Weighing in at the size of a suitcase, two of the devices were brought to aid the humanitarian effort in Nepal.

NASA's FINDER can detect a heartbeat through 30 feet of debris, 20 feet of concrete, or from 100 feet away in the open air. The device can pinpoint the location of a live person to a five-foot range. FINDER can even tell the difference between animal and human heartbeats; so, precious man-hours won't be wasted trying to free a trapped goat from a fallen building, when saving a person trapped under the same debris would be a better use of man-power.

FINDER is only a prototype at the moment, and NASA has plans to market the tool commercially.""

http://www.slashgear.com/nasas-new-radar-detects-heartbeats-saving-4-lives-in-nepal-06382451/

Very Large Array (VLA) Radio Telescope Wants To Be Renamed By You! The New Mexico Facility is Operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO).

""following a massive rebuilding of the 1970s electronics from the ground up, the VLA feels it needs a new name, and it's open to suggestions!


Entries are welcome until December 1. Feel free to hash out your ideas in the comments here before you submit them. If you post an idea here and it turns out to be accepted as the new real name for the array, we will definitely pull together some sort of magnificent prize for you. But I have an name or two in mind myself.""

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-10/very-large-array-wants-you-rename-it