A group of German companies with expertise in parachute systems have joined forces to create the Gryphon Next Generation Parachute System. Designed for high altitude jumps, the Gryphon has a 6-foot wingspan and a glide ratio of 5:1, meaning that a solider can glide up to 30 miles in the air—60 if they go ahead with plans to add a small engine like the one used by Yves Rossy to cross the English Channel.

"All equipment is hidden in a lifting body optimized for stealth, the radar-signature is extremely low," says the Gryphon data sheet (PDF). "Detection of incoming Gryphon soldiers by airborne or ground radar will be extremely difficult."

Gryphon would also include a guidance system and heads up display navigation, which is all well and good, but it seems that the problem of landing still has to be worked out. Skydivers and daredevils using similar technology must deploy a traditional parachute in order to return to Earth in one piece. In order to get the most out of the stealth capability, it would be necessary to develop a way for soldiers to return safely to the ground using the wings alone. So far, there hasn't been any details on who might be interested in funding such a project, but this seems like too good of an idea to ignore. [ Danger Room via The Raw Feed]

The HUD replaces technical manuals on a bulky laptop with floating instructions, labels and oh yes, 3D models of tools right in front of the mechanic. The wrist-mounted interface is run off an Android-powered G1 (which looks much cooler as gauntlet). Apparently Android's seeing a lot of use as a tool of war. You can check out a video of it here. [Technology Review via PopSci]

Oh ED, you're a lifesaver! A general who lead an infantry division in Iraq recently said that of the 155 men killed in combat, 122 could have lived if autonomous robots were doing the shooting instead. (Strangely, the other 33 would have died whether robots were around or not.) Replacing infantrymen with robots is a no brainer if you want to save your own boys, but Smokey from The Big Lebowski would probably say if nothing did the killing, even more lives would be spared. [Wired]

Am I reading this right? Slashdot says the entire domain .se—a million souls, I mean sites—up and vanished from the internet. Some didn't deliver successful replies for more than a day. Maybe I need to call Tim Berners-Lee for interpretation, but I don't get why more people aren't freaked out that an entire country up and disappeared, even if it was just for a moment. [Slashdot]

[Edit: This has been one of the most traumatic moments in my life. J.D.]

Someone did a comprehensive study of 836 people to see how people managed to keep username/password logins straight in their head. The test noted that only 4.4% of people showed no "deviations" from the ideal password rules, deviations including jotting down the password, reusing it time and again, using a deliberately short password or—and here's probably where most people failed-having no mix of characters and symbols. Having "best practices" that insanely rigid probably upped the failure rate substantially, but I think the important thing here—as Ars points out—is that the username/password system is a joke to begin with. [Ars Technica]

The 23-year-old guy who founded the International Church of Jediism obviously needs to watch Star Wars a few more times. The other day, he wore his hood into a supermarket and got yelled at something fierce. His very Jedi response? To run to the press and cry like a little bitch:

They said: 'Take it off', and I said: 'No, its part of my religion. It's part of my religious right.' I gave them a Jedi church business card.

No lightsabers, no waving of the hand in the air, not even "Lightning bolt! Lightning bolt! Lightning bolt!" Just a business card? He continues:

They weren't listening to me and were rude. They had three people around me. It was intimidating.

"Intimidating"? For a Jedi? Just remember, intimidation leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering. Don't look now, but I think someone's headed for the Dark Side. [Guardian UK]

This direct mail campaign is incredibly effective in how it brings forth childhood memories for many while emphasizing the reality of those who may never have one: Child soldiers in places such as Africa. The campaign may be aiming to find corporate sponsorships, but they've earned a check from me, too. [Direct Daily]

Howie Choset, an associate professor at CMU, engineered the robotic arm with various sensors so it can monitor and assess a soldier's condition. The are detectors on it can determine if a person is breathing. Eventually Choset hopes to attach an ultrasound that would allow the arm to detect internal bleeding. An oxygen mask can also be attached the robotic arm. Controlled wirelessly though a joystick, the arm has multiple joints allowing it to flex, retract and twist, allowing it the flexibility to do different tasks.

The team is collaborating with the U.S. Army's Life Support for Trauma and Transport system (LSTAT), a stretcher that is a basically a portable intensive-care unit that is being used in Iraq and Afghanistan. The problem with the LSTAT is that it's sensors need to be moved by hand, and assisting medics on the battlefield would be easy targets, something that the snake bot could help solve. Still the uses of the snake bot aren't limited to just biotechnology: Choset hopes to apply it to search and rescues, surgical procedures, bridge inspections, bomb disarming and more. [CMU via Technology Review]

It'll have to cope with stairs, water hazards, desert levels of heat and arctic levels of snow and ice, navigate through GPS waypoints, and it'll have to respond to speech and gesture commands—at which point you imagine a soldier commanding it to "sit!" and giggle slightly. But only slightly, as none of these enhancements seem too beyond the pale, given the already amazing development of BigDog.

Just one sad point though: Darpa's labelling the new machine the "Legged Squad Support System" or L3. Would it have been a bit much for the military eggheads at the defense research agency to exercise their imaginations and dub it K9? Much better name. [FedBizOpps via DangerRoom]

The MIT engineers used nanotech to measure the thickness of a single scale (about 500 millionths of a meter thick), and decipher the makeup of its four different layer materials. They discovered that the materials, in tandem with the geometry and thickness of each layer, all contributed to a pretty amazing suit of armor.

They even tested the armor plating by "biting" scales that had been surgically removed from a living fish. What they discovered then was that P. senegalus armor will probably replace the bulky ceramic plates that adorn our fighting men and women in warzones today.

The P. senegalus armor kept the crack localized by forcing it to run in a circle around the penetration site, rather than spreading through the entire scale and leading to catastrophic failure, like many ceramic materials.

Lighter, thinner, and better? I think with those kinds of results soldiers and law enforcement officials alike could probably turn a blind eye to the fishy smell. Either that, or baking soda just became the next indispensable item in their arsenal next to bulletproof vests. [MIT]

The technology is described as an example of “neuromorphic engineering”—hardware and software that tries to emulate human intelligence. Basically, the binoculars point out objects that our brains might have noticed, but not fully processed. The subconscious can detect multiple things at once, but the conscious mind can only focus on one thing at a time. By collecting data using human eyes and then passing the data back to the brain, the binoculars more or less add a second processing loop.

One possible problem: How to fine-tune it so that the binoculars don't just pick up on useless, distracting noise. Brains look for patterns in everything, and will sometimes find them even where they don't exist (i.e. Astrology). What if for every rocket launcher it did notice before us, it also pointed out how one specific mountain range in the distance looks like your mother-in-law's face? [Slashdot via Gizmag]

Scientists suggest that the brace could be used by campers and soldiers to power GPS locators and satellite phones in areas with limited access to electricity. It could also charge prosthetic knees, eliminating the need for periodic surgery to replace the batteries in the joint.

The current version of the knee brace is just a proof-of-concept; the team plans to make the device less bulky while still retaining its energy harvesting capabilities. We think this is a great idea with lots of potential (even if it was created in part by a University of Michigan professor). Hopefully we can get a working model before CES next year so we'll never need to worry about our laptop running out of juice. [Science via Science Daily, Reuters, BBC]

Scientists have invented a gel that mimics human tissue. By combining the gel with the microchip, chances that the body will reject the device are far less likely. The entire project is said to be five years from implementation.

Personally, I'd love to see these microchips developed for civilian use, especially for diabetics and those who need constant blood work. But when framed as a government, military initiative, the altruistic potential can be scared off by Big Brother. [intelligencedaily via inquirer]

These vests can be adapted to be used on the battlefield, yes, but we'd like to see them make a version for the Xbox 360. Did I feel a left arrow on my back? That means I need to flank left. Down? Duck. All of them go off at once? Oh, right, I'm being chainsawed. – Jason Chen

Vibrating vest could send alerts to soldiers [New Scientist via Boing Boing via Primidi]