Perry's Path to GOP Nomination Could be the Clearest

Maybe Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he’s decided to test the waters on a presidential run just because he’s feels left out.

For all the attention paid to the presidential possibilities of two members of the House (Paul Ryan and Michele Bachmann) and a reality show host (you know who), you’d never know that the Republicans had on their bench the three-term governor of the state with the nation’s best economy and the largest Republican population.

But for some reason, when Perry told people he wasn’t running, reporters believed him. If Chris Christie even flies over Iowa, the blogosphere goes into meltdown mode, but the political press for some reason mostly took Perry at his word.

It seems strange that they would have.

Perry, who has been governor for more than a decade, is a favorite of the Tea Party movement for his tough stands on state sovereignty, border security, taxes and gun rights. Anybody who packs heat when he jogs so he can blow away coyotes that mess with his Labrador retriever and hangs out with Ted Nugent at a Tax Day rally is going to have serious street cred with the Republican base.

As the Perry talk heats up, these primary election positives will be reinforced by liberals who find his Texas-fried politics to be repellant. Every time Democratic cable news talkers remind viewers that Perry once warned that Texas might secede from the union if Washington kept piling on new federal powers, somewhere in Iowa or South Carolina a Republican primary voter thinks, “Not bad.” When Perry gets chided for declining photo-ops with President Obama on visits to the state, somewhere in New Hampshire a guy with a “Don’t tread on me” flag on his bumper thinks, “Cool!”

But unlike some of the other Tea Party favorites, Perry has an easier case to make to establishment Republicans. His state has a $1.3 trillion economy now on track to pass California's as the nation’s largest. Perry has also avoided some of the hardest stands of the conservative movement. Consider that while Perry is constantly hectoring Obama for more border security, he declined to sign onto the movement for an Arizona-style crackdown on illegal immigration when it was very hot among Republican circles.

Raised on a cotton farm and prone to a strong Texas twang, Perry won’t be grabbing the wonk vote from Mitch Daniels’ fans. But as a 28-year political veteran who started his career as a Democrat and pushed his way to the head of the state GOP and now the national Republican Governors Association, Perry knows how to adapt, survive and compromise when he needs to.

Plus, Republicans are almost certain to pick a nominee who is or was a governor. It makes for more gravitas when running against a sitting president and the GOP just seems more comfortable with the strong, decisive type than coalition-building congressmen.

Republican’s haven’t lost a presidential election with a former governor since Thomas Dewey in 1948. All six of the Republican presidential losses in the same period have been with a current or former member of Congress.

So how could it be that the GOP hasn’t been looking harder at Perry, the 61-year-old Methodist who’s married to his high-school sweetheart? It’s partly because Perry has no ties to the East Coast media establishment. The people around him are pure Texas and he’s never done much that would catch the eye of the political press. He’s not exactly a symposium kind of guy.

So maybe Perry is just engaging in this presidential flirtation to make a point and raise his profile ahead of fundraising season when he will be hitting the road to raise money for his fellow governors. Maybe he thought it would nice just to be asked.

But whatever has brought him to this point, if he does take a serious look, he may find that he has clearer path to the nomination than anyone else.

Perry has a natural alliance with the most important potential kingmaker of the cycle, if Sarah Palin doesn’t run herself. He would provide the sharpest contrast – politically and culturally – with frontrunner Mitt Romney at a time when Republicans are eager for an alternative. And being from a large, wealthy state, he has the best chance to turn on the kind of fast fundraising necessary to contend with Romney’s mega bucks.

Now that he’s moseyed over to the pool, Perry may find good reason to dive in.

Chris Stirewalt is FOX News’ digital politics editor. His political note, Power Play, is available every weekday morning at FOXNEWS.COM.

Chris Stirewalt

View the original article here

Perry's Path to GOP Nomination Could be the Clearest

Maybe Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he’s decided to test the waters on a presidential run just because he’s feels left out.

For all the attention paid to the presidential possibilities of two members of the House (Paul Ryan and Michele Bachmann) and a reality show host (you know who), you’d never know that the Republicans had on their bench the three-term governor of the state with the nation’s best economy and the largest Republican population.

But for some reason, when Perry told people he wasn’t running, reporters believed him. If Chris Christie even flies over Iowa, the blogosphere goes into meltdown mode, but the political press for some reason mostly took Perry at his word.

It seems strange that they would have.

Perry, who has been governor for more than a decade, is a favorite of the Tea Party movement for his tough stands on state sovereignty, border security, taxes and gun rights. Anybody who packs heat when he jogs so he can blow away coyotes that mess with his Labrador retriever and hangs out with Ted Nugent at a Tax Day rally is going to have serious street cred with the Republican base.

As the Perry talk heats up, these primary election positives will be reinforced by liberals who find his Texas-fried politics to be repellant. Every time Democratic cable news talkers remind viewers that Perry once warned that Texas might secede from the union if Washington kept piling on new federal powers, somewhere in Iowa or South Carolina a Republican primary voter thinks, “Not bad.” When Perry gets chided for declining photo-ops with President Obama on visits to the state, somewhere in New Hampshire a guy with a “Don’t tread on me” flag on his bumper thinks, “Cool!”

But unlike some of the other Tea Party favorites, Perry has an easier case to make to establishment Republicans. His state has a $1.3 trillion economy now on track to pass California's as the nation’s largest. Perry has also avoided some of the hardest stands of the conservative movement. Consider that while Perry is constantly hectoring Obama for more border security, he declined to sign onto the movement for an Arizona-style crackdown on illegal immigration when it was very hot among Republican circles.

Raised on a cotton farm and prone to a strong Texas twang, Perry won’t be grabbing the wonk vote from Mitch Daniels’ fans. But as a 28-year political veteran who started his career as a Democrat and pushed his way to the head of the state GOP and now the national Republican Governors Association, Perry knows how to adapt, survive and compromise when he needs to.

Plus, Republicans are almost certain to pick a nominee who is or was a governor. It makes for more gravitas when running against a sitting president and the GOP just seems more comfortable with the strong, decisive type than coalition-building congressmen.

Republican’s haven’t lost a presidential election with a former governor since Thomas Dewey in 1948. All six of the Republican presidential losses in the same period have been with a current or former member of Congress.

So how could it be that the GOP hasn’t been looking harder at Perry, the 61-year-old Methodist who’s married to his high-school sweetheart? It’s partly because Perry has no ties to the East Coast media establishment. The people around him are pure Texas and he’s never done much that would catch the eye of the political press. He’s not exactly a symposium kind of guy.

So maybe Perry is just engaging in this presidential flirtation to make a point and raise his profile ahead of fundraising season when he will be hitting the road to raise money for his fellow governors. Maybe he thought it would nice just to be asked.

But whatever has brought him to this point, if he does take a serious look, he may find that he has clearer path to the nomination than anyone else.

Perry has a natural alliance with the most important potential kingmaker of the cycle, if Sarah Palin doesn’t run herself. He would provide the sharpest contrast – politically and culturally – with frontrunner Mitt Romney at a time when Republicans are eager for an alternative. And being from a large, wealthy state, he has the best chance to turn on the kind of fast fundraising necessary to contend with Romney’s mega bucks.

Now that he’s moseyed over to the pool, Perry may find good reason to dive in.

Chris Stirewalt is FOX News’ digital politics editor. His political note, Power Play, is available every weekday morning at FOXNEWS.COM.

Chris Stirewalt

View the original article here

Perry's Path to GOP Nomination Could be the Clearest

Maybe Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he’s decided to test the waters on a presidential run just because he’s feels left out.

For all the attention paid to the presidential possibilities of two members of the House (Paul Ryan and Michele Bachmann) and a reality show host (you know who), you’d never know that the Republicans had on their bench the three-term governor of the state with the nation’s best economy and the largest Republican population.

But for some reason, when Perry told people he wasn’t running, reporters believed him. If Chris Christie even flies over Iowa, the blogosphere goes into meltdown mode, but the political press for some reason mostly took Perry at his word.

It seems strange that they would have.

Perry, who has been governor for more than a decade, is a favorite of the Tea Party movement for his tough stands on state sovereignty, border security, taxes and gun rights. Anybody who packs heat when he jogs so he can blow away coyotes that mess with his Labrador retriever and hangs out with Ted Nugent at a Tax Day rally is going to have serious street cred with the Republican base.

As the Perry talk heats up, these primary election positives will be reinforced by liberals who find his Texas-fried politics to be repellant. Every time Democratic cable news talkers remind viewers that Perry once warned that Texas might secede from the union if Washington kept piling on new federal powers, somewhere in Iowa or South Carolina a Republican primary voter thinks, “Not bad.” When Perry gets chided for declining photo-ops with President Obama on visits to the state, somewhere in New Hampshire a guy with a “Don’t tread on me” flag on his bumper thinks, “Cool!”

But unlike some of the other Tea Party favorites, Perry has an easier case to make to establishment Republicans. His state has a $1.3 trillion economy now on track to pass California's as the nation’s largest. Perry has also avoided some of the hardest stands of the conservative movement. Consider that while Perry is constantly hectoring Obama for more border security, he declined to sign onto the movement for an Arizona-style crackdown on illegal immigration when it was very hot among Republican circles.

Raised on a cotton farm and prone to a strong Texas twang, Perry won’t be grabbing the wonk vote from Mitch Daniels’ fans. But as a 28-year political veteran who started his career as a Democrat and pushed his way to the head of the state GOP and now the national Republican Governors Association, Perry knows how to adapt, survive and compromise when he needs to.

Plus, Republicans are almost certain to pick a nominee who is or was a governor. It makes for more gravitas when running against a sitting president and the GOP just seems more comfortable with the strong, decisive type than coalition-building congressmen.

Republican’s haven’t lost a presidential election with a former governor since Thomas Dewey in 1948. All six of the Republican presidential losses in the same period have been with a current or former member of Congress.

So how could it be that the GOP hasn’t been looking harder at Perry, the 61-year-old Methodist who’s married to his high-school sweetheart? It’s partly because Perry has no ties to the East Coast media establishment. The people around him are pure Texas and he’s never done much that would catch the eye of the political press. He’s not exactly a symposium kind of guy.

So maybe Perry is just engaging in this presidential flirtation to make a point and raise his profile ahead of fundraising season when he will be hitting the road to raise money for his fellow governors. Maybe he thought it would nice just to be asked.

But whatever has brought him to this point, if he does take a serious look, he may find that he has clearer path to the nomination than anyone else.

Perry has a natural alliance with the most important potential kingmaker of the cycle, if Sarah Palin doesn’t run herself. He would provide the sharpest contrast – politically and culturally – with frontrunner Mitt Romney at a time when Republicans are eager for an alternative. And being from a large, wealthy state, he has the best chance to turn on the kind of fast fundraising necessary to contend with Romney’s mega bucks.

Now that he’s moseyed over to the pool, Perry may find good reason to dive in.

Chris Stirewalt is FOX News’ digital politics editor. His political note, Power Play, is available every weekday morning at FOXNEWS.COM.

Chris Stirewalt

View the original article here

Perry's Path to GOP Nomination Could be the Clearest

Maybe Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he’s decided to test the waters on a presidential run just because he’s feels left out.

For all the attention paid to the presidential possibilities of two members of the House (Paul Ryan and Michele Bachmann) and a reality show host (you know who), you’d never know that the Republicans had on their bench the three-term governor of the state with the nation’s best economy and the largest Republican population.

But for some reason, when Perry told people he wasn’t running, reporters believed him. If Chris Christie even flies over Iowa, the blogosphere goes into meltdown mode, but the political press for some reason mostly took Perry at his word.

It seems strange that they would have.

Perry, who has been governor for more than a decade, is a favorite of the Tea Party movement for his tough stands on state sovereignty, border security, taxes and gun rights. Anybody who packs heat when he jogs so he can blow away coyotes that mess with his Labrador retriever and hangs out with Ted Nugent at a Tax Day rally is going to have serious street cred with the Republican base.

As the Perry talk heats up, these primary election positives will be reinforced by liberals who find his Texas-fried politics to be repellant. Every time Democratic cable news talkers remind viewers that Perry once warned that Texas might secede from the union if Washington kept piling on new federal powers, somewhere in Iowa or South Carolina a Republican primary voter thinks, “Not bad.” When Perry gets chided for declining photo-ops with President Obama on visits to the state, somewhere in New Hampshire a guy with a “Don’t tread on me” flag on his bumper thinks, “Cool!”

But unlike some of the other Tea Party favorites, Perry has an easier case to make to establishment Republicans. His state has a $1.3 trillion economy now on track to pass California's as the nation’s largest. Perry has also avoided some of the hardest stands of the conservative movement. Consider that while Perry is constantly hectoring Obama for more border security, he declined to sign onto the movement for an Arizona-style crackdown on illegal immigration when it was very hot among Republican circles.

Raised on a cotton farm and prone to a strong Texas twang, Perry won’t be grabbing the wonk vote from Mitch Daniels’ fans. But as a 28-year political veteran who started his career as a Democrat and pushed his way to the head of the state GOP and now the national Republican Governors Association, Perry knows how to adapt, survive and compromise when he needs to.

Plus, Republicans are almost certain to pick a nominee who is or was a governor. It makes for more gravitas when running against a sitting president and the GOP just seems more comfortable with the strong, decisive type than coalition-building congressmen.

Republican’s haven’t lost a presidential election with a former governor since Thomas Dewey in 1948. All six of the Republican presidential losses in the same period have been with a current or former member of Congress.

So how could it be that the GOP hasn’t been looking harder at Perry, the 61-year-old Methodist who’s married to his high-school sweetheart? It’s partly because Perry has no ties to the East Coast media establishment. The people around him are pure Texas and he’s never done much that would catch the eye of the political press. He’s not exactly a symposium kind of guy.

So maybe Perry is just engaging in this presidential flirtation to make a point and raise his profile ahead of fundraising season when he will be hitting the road to raise money for his fellow governors. Maybe he thought it would nice just to be asked.

But whatever has brought him to this point, if he does take a serious look, he may find that he has clearer path to the nomination than anyone else.

Perry has a natural alliance with the most important potential kingmaker of the cycle, if Sarah Palin doesn’t run herself. He would provide the sharpest contrast – politically and culturally – with frontrunner Mitt Romney at a time when Republicans are eager for an alternative. And being from a large, wealthy state, he has the best chance to turn on the kind of fast fundraising necessary to contend with Romney’s mega bucks.

Now that he’s moseyed over to the pool, Perry may find good reason to dive in.

Chris Stirewalt is FOX News’ digital politics editor. His political note, Power Play, is available every weekday morning at FOXNEWS.COM.

Chris Stirewalt

View the original article here

Perry's Path to GOP Nomination Could be the Clearest

Maybe Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he’s decided to test the waters on a presidential run just because he’s feels left out.

For all the attention paid to the presidential possibilities of two members of the House (Paul Ryan and Michele Bachmann) and a reality show host (you know who), you’d never know that the Republicans had on their bench the three-term governor of the state with the nation’s best economy and the largest Republican population.

But for some reason, when Perry told people he wasn’t running, reporters believed him. If Chris Christie even flies over Iowa, the blogosphere goes into meltdown mode, but the political press for some reason mostly took Perry at his word.

It seems strange that they would have.

Perry, who has been governor for more than a decade, is a favorite of the Tea Party movement for his tough stands on state sovereignty, border security, taxes and gun rights. Anybody who packs heat when he jogs so he can blow away coyotes that mess with his Labrador retriever and hangs out with Ted Nugent at a Tax Day rally is going to have serious street cred with the Republican base.

As the Perry talk heats up, these primary election positives will be reinforced by liberals who find his Texas-fried politics to be repellant. Every time Democratic cable news talkers remind viewers that Perry once warned that Texas might secede from the union if Washington kept piling on new federal powers, somewhere in Iowa or South Carolina a Republican primary voter thinks, “Not bad.” When Perry gets chided for declining photo-ops with President Obama on visits to the state, somewhere in New Hampshire a guy with a “Don’t tread on me” flag on his bumper thinks, “Cool!”

But unlike some of the other Tea Party favorites, Perry has an easier case to make to establishment Republicans. His state has a $1.3 trillion economy now on track to pass California's as the nation’s largest. Perry has also avoided some of the hardest stands of the conservative movement. Consider that while Perry is constantly hectoring Obama for more border security, he declined to sign onto the movement for an Arizona-style crackdown on illegal immigration when it was very hot among Republican circles.

Raised on a cotton farm and prone to a strong Texas twang, Perry won’t be grabbing the wonk vote from Mitch Daniels’ fans. But as a 28-year political veteran who started his career as a Democrat and pushed his way to the head of the state GOP and now the national Republican Governors Association, Perry knows how to adapt, survive and compromise when he needs to.

Plus, Republicans are almost certain to pick a nominee who is or was a governor. It makes for more gravitas when running against a sitting president and the GOP just seems more comfortable with the strong, decisive type than coalition-building congressmen.

Republican’s haven’t lost a presidential election with a former governor since Thomas Dewey in 1948. All six of the Republican presidential losses in the same period have been with a current or former member of Congress.

So how could it be that the GOP hasn’t been looking harder at Perry, the 61-year-old Methodist who’s married to his high-school sweetheart? It’s partly because Perry has no ties to the East Coast media establishment. The people around him are pure Texas and he’s never done much that would catch the eye of the political press. He’s not exactly a symposium kind of guy.

So maybe Perry is just engaging in this presidential flirtation to make a point and raise his profile ahead of fundraising season when he will be hitting the road to raise money for his fellow governors. Maybe he thought it would nice just to be asked.

But whatever has brought him to this point, if he does take a serious look, he may find that he has clearer path to the nomination than anyone else.

Perry has a natural alliance with the most important potential kingmaker of the cycle, if Sarah Palin doesn’t run herself. He would provide the sharpest contrast – politically and culturally – with frontrunner Mitt Romney at a time when Republicans are eager for an alternative. And being from a large, wealthy state, he has the best chance to turn on the kind of fast fundraising necessary to contend with Romney’s mega bucks.

Now that he’s moseyed over to the pool, Perry may find good reason to dive in.

Chris Stirewalt is FOX News’ digital politics editor. His political note, Power Play, is available every weekday morning at FOXNEWS.COM.

Chris Stirewalt

View the original article here

Could a military radar prevent further Newtown-style tragedies?

• 

  Professor Kamal Sarabandi approaches a mannequin he uses to test the radar in the anechoic chamber.In the aftermath of the Newtown school shooting, a University of Michigan, College of Engineering professor Kamal Sarabandienvisions a new use for a weapons-detecting radar system heâs been developing for thepast few years. The technology could potentially identify a hidden gun or bomb on anapproaching person from the distance of a football field away in less than a second.Marcin Szczepanski / University of Michigan

One American professor believes radar could be used to protect students from Newtown-style attacks in the future.

University of Michigan professor Kamal Sarabandi has adapted a radar similar to the type police deploy to identify speeders -- it can now reveal weapons and bombs concealed on a person's body.

In the aftermath of the Newtown tragedy, Sarabandi began investigating how his millimeter-wave radar system for defense could be used to identify weapons on people approaching crowded places like schools.

In a press release put out by the university, the professor said he believes his system could be quicker -- at less than one second per person -- and more practical than a metal detector. It could scan for threats from as far away as the length of a football field.

Radar sends out radio waves and listens for the signals that bounce back sort of like how a bat senses its environment. The millimeter wavelength Sarabandi uses is like that found in ordinary car collision avoidance systems.

Sarabandi takes this radar and links it with Doppler radar signal processing. The Doppler is used to identify the signature of an individual person – rather than an incoming rain front.

Polarimetric radar is used to search for weapons. A metal object can change the radar beam polarization and his system interprets this change to flag weapons.

A signal is sent at a specific polarization and analyzes the polarization of the signal that bounces back.

Radar polarimetry is then used to evaluate the signal bouncing back off the person for a “glare” that would reveal a metal object has been hidden.  If the signal returns with a different polarization then it suggests a person is possibly carrying a weapon.

Sarabandi envisages the tech scanning crowds at a distance, flagging suspect individuals and referring them for further scrutiny by security.

"Schools, airports, stadiums or shopping malls—wherever there is a large number of people that you want to protect," Sarabandi said.

The Army is funding the University of Michigan team and work is underway to miniaturize the system to deploy on a robot.

Research has been conducted with computer simulations and an echo-reducing chamber with a mannequin wearing a leather jacket hiding a “weapon” of a block of was studded with nails.

The technology has yet to be tested on real guns or people.

Ballet dancer turned defense specialist Allison Barrie has traveled around the world covering the military, terrorism, weapons advancements and life on the front line. You can reach her at wargames@foxnews.com or follow her on Twitter @Allison_Barrie.

Allison Barrie

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View the original article here

Perry's Path to GOP Nomination Could be the Clearest

Maybe Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he’s decided to test the waters on a presidential run just because he’s feels left out.

For all the attention paid to the presidential possibilities of two members of the House (Paul Ryan and Michele Bachmann) and a reality show host (you know who), you’d never know that the Republicans had on their bench the three-term governor of the state with the nation’s best economy and the largest Republican population.

But for some reason, when Perry told people he wasn’t running, reporters believed him. If Chris Christie even flies over Iowa, the blogosphere goes into meltdown mode, but the political press for some reason mostly took Perry at his word.

It seems strange that they would have.

Perry, who has been governor for more than a decade, is a favorite of the Tea Party movement for his tough stands on state sovereignty, border security, taxes and gun rights. Anybody who packs heat when he jogs so he can blow away coyotes that mess with his Labrador retriever and hangs out with Ted Nugent at a Tax Day rally is going to have serious street cred with the Republican base.

As the Perry talk heats up, these primary election positives will be reinforced by liberals who find his Texas-fried politics to be repellant. Every time Democratic cable news talkers remind viewers that Perry once warned that Texas might secede from the union if Washington kept piling on new federal powers, somewhere in Iowa or South Carolina a Republican primary voter thinks, “Not bad.” When Perry gets chided for declining photo-ops with President Obama on visits to the state, somewhere in New Hampshire a guy with a “Don’t tread on me” flag on his bumper thinks, “Cool!”

But unlike some of the other Tea Party favorites, Perry has an easier case to make to establishment Republicans. His state has a $1.3 trillion economy now on track to pass California's as the nation’s largest. Perry has also avoided some of the hardest stands of the conservative movement. Consider that while Perry is constantly hectoring Obama for more border security, he declined to sign onto the movement for an Arizona-style crackdown on illegal immigration when it was very hot among Republican circles.

Raised on a cotton farm and prone to a strong Texas twang, Perry won’t be grabbing the wonk vote from Mitch Daniels’ fans. But as a 28-year political veteran who started his career as a Democrat and pushed his way to the head of the state GOP and now the national Republican Governors Association, Perry knows how to adapt, survive and compromise when he needs to.

Plus, Republicans are almost certain to pick a nominee who is or was a governor. It makes for more gravitas when running against a sitting president and the GOP just seems more comfortable with the strong, decisive type than coalition-building congressmen.

Republican’s haven’t lost a presidential election with a former governor since Thomas Dewey in 1948. All six of the Republican presidential losses in the same period have been with a current or former member of Congress.

So how could it be that the GOP hasn’t been looking harder at Perry, the 61-year-old Methodist who’s married to his high-school sweetheart? It’s partly because Perry has no ties to the East Coast media establishment. The people around him are pure Texas and he’s never done much that would catch the eye of the political press. He’s not exactly a symposium kind of guy.

So maybe Perry is just engaging in this presidential flirtation to make a point and raise his profile ahead of fundraising season when he will be hitting the road to raise money for his fellow governors. Maybe he thought it would nice just to be asked.

But whatever has brought him to this point, if he does take a serious look, he may find that he has clearer path to the nomination than anyone else.

Perry has a natural alliance with the most important potential kingmaker of the cycle, if Sarah Palin doesn’t run herself. He would provide the sharpest contrast – politically and culturally – with frontrunner Mitt Romney at a time when Republicans are eager for an alternative. And being from a large, wealthy state, he has the best chance to turn on the kind of fast fundraising necessary to contend with Romney’s mega bucks.

Now that he’s moseyed over to the pool, Perry may find good reason to dive in.

Chris Stirewalt is FOX News’ digital politics editor. His political note, Power Play, is available every weekday morning at FOXNEWS.COM.

Chris Stirewalt

View the original article here

Immigrants could cause a superbug apocalypse, scientists warn

• 

  Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria seen under a high-powered microscope.Bioquell

• 

  Two Bioquell Q-10 robots, recently tested at Johns Hopkins Hospital as superbug killing machines.Bioquell

Next Slide Previous Slide

Immigrants may import dangerous and potentially lethal superbug strains, a medical journal recently warned -- and robots may hold the answer.

Earlier this month, G8 countries and the World Health Organization were called upon to face the threat of a catastrophic superbug apocalypse. The prestigious medical journal Lancet warned that a rise in extensively drug resistant cases could produce an outbreak of an untreatable superstrain, in particular of tuberculosis (TB).

While TB can be cured with antibiotics, if untreated it can be fatal in half of cases. Stronger, drug-resistant strains can then develop from the bacteria in patients who fail to complete their six-month treatment cycle.

The report notes that Eastern European immigrants in particular pose a credible threat of importing these drug-resistant TB.

Just last week in Australia, a superbug known to have killed humans abroad breached an intensive care unit in Melbourne infecting ten patients – and this particularly nasty superbug spread is ability to resist drugs to entirely different bacteria.

Key Lines of Defense: Robots and Drugs
Both healthcare and the pharmaceutical industries must robustly act to preserve existing drugs, experts warn. They must also be encouraged to develop new antibiotics to make up for the gap created by the failure to do so for twenty years.

Europe’s Innovative Medicines Initiative, a new public private partnership, looks like it has potential to be replicated elsewhere to improve international defenses.

Better hygiene is another key measure -- and a recent report suggests deploying robot dynamic duos may be the answer.

Johns Hopkins Hospital infection control experts tested using robots as superbug killing machines.

Weighing in at about 60 pounds apiece, the two washing machine-sized robots worked together dispersing a bleaching agent into the air and then detoxifying the disinfecting chemical.

In the first head to head study of traditional hospital counter-superbug cleaning tactics versus next generation robots, the robots killed it – literally. The Bioquell made robots were extremely effective at preventing the spread of multiple-drug-resistant bacteria, the scientists said.

In fact, the robots reduced the patient’s chances of becoming colonized by the especially aggressive and difficult to treat bacterium, vancomycin-resistant enterococci by a whopping 80 percent.

Robots: What can’t they do?

Ballet dancer turned defense specialist Allison Barrie has traveled around the world covering the military, terrorism, weapons advancements and life on the front line. You can reach her at wargames@foxnews.com or follow her on Twitter @Allison_Barrie.

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View the original article here

Could a military radar prevent further Newtown-style tragedies?

• 

  Professor Kamal Sarabandi approaches a mannequin he uses to test the radar in the anechoic chamber.In the aftermath of the Newtown school shooting, a University of Michigan, College of Engineering professor Kamal Sarabandienvisions a new use for a weapons-detecting radar system heâs been developing for thepast few years. The technology could potentially identify a hidden gun or bomb on anapproaching person from the distance of a football field away in less than a second.Marcin Szczepanski / University of Michigan

One American professor believes radar could be used to protect students from Newtown-style attacks in the future.

University of Michigan professor Kamal Sarabandi has adapted a radar similar to the type police deploy to identify speeders -- it can now reveal weapons and bombs concealed on a person's body.

In the aftermath of the Newtown tragedy, Sarabandi began investigating how his millimeter-wave radar system for defense could be used to identify weapons on people approaching crowded places like schools.

In a press release put out by the university, the professor said he believes his system could be quicker -- at less than one second per person -- and more practical than a metal detector. It could scan for threats from as far away as the length of a football field.

Radar sends out radio waves and listens for the signals that bounce back sort of like how a bat senses its environment. The millimeter wavelength Sarabandi uses is like that found in ordinary car collision avoidance systems.

Sarabandi takes this radar and links it with Doppler radar signal processing. The Doppler is used to identify the signature of an individual person – rather than an incoming rain front.

Polarimetric radar is used to search for weapons. A metal object can change the radar beam polarization and his system interprets this change to flag weapons.

A signal is sent at a specific polarization and analyzes the polarization of the signal that bounces back.

Radar polarimetry is then used to evaluate the signal bouncing back off the person for a “glare” that would reveal a metal object has been hidden.  If the signal returns with a different polarization then it suggests a person is possibly carrying a weapon.

Sarabandi envisages the tech scanning crowds at a distance, flagging suspect individuals and referring them for further scrutiny by security.

"Schools, airports, stadiums or shopping malls—wherever there is a large number of people that you want to protect," Sarabandi said.

The Army is funding the University of Michigan team and work is underway to miniaturize the system to deploy on a robot.

Research has been conducted with computer simulations and an echo-reducing chamber with a mannequin wearing a leather jacket hiding a “weapon” of a block of was studded with nails.

The technology has yet to be tested on real guns or people.

Ballet dancer turned defense specialist Allison Barrie has traveled around the world covering the military, terrorism, weapons advancements and life on the front line. You can reach her at wargames@foxnews.com or follow her on Twitter @Allison_Barrie.

Allison Barrie

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Could a military radar prevent further Newtown-style tragedies?

• 

  Professor Kamal Sarabandi approaches a mannequin he uses to test the radar in the anechoic chamber.In the aftermath of the Newtown school shooting, a University of Michigan, College of Engineering professor Kamal Sarabandienvisions a new use for a weapons-detecting radar system heâs been developing for thepast few years. The technology could potentially identify a hidden gun or bomb on anapproaching person from the distance of a football field away in less than a second.Marcin Szczepanski / University of Michigan

One American professor believes radar could be used to protect students from Newtown-style attacks in the future.

University of Michigan professor Kamal Sarabandi has adapted a radar similar to the type police deploy to identify speeders -- it can now reveal weapons and bombs concealed on a person's body.

In the aftermath of the Newtown tragedy, Sarabandi began investigating how his millimeter-wave radar system for defense could be used to identify weapons on people approaching crowded places like schools.

In a press release put out by the university, the professor said he believes his system could be quicker -- at less than one second per person -- and more practical than a metal detector. It could scan for threats from as far away as the length of a football field.

Radar sends out radio waves and listens for the signals that bounce back sort of like how a bat senses its environment. The millimeter wavelength Sarabandi uses is like that found in ordinary car collision avoidance systems.

Sarabandi takes this radar and links it with Doppler radar signal processing. The Doppler is used to identify the signature of an individual person – rather than an incoming rain front.

Polarimetric radar is used to search for weapons. A metal object can change the radar beam polarization and his system interprets this change to flag weapons.

A signal is sent at a specific polarization and analyzes the polarization of the signal that bounces back.

Radar polarimetry is then used to evaluate the signal bouncing back off the person for a “glare” that would reveal a metal object has been hidden.  If the signal returns with a different polarization then it suggests a person is possibly carrying a weapon.

Sarabandi envisages the tech scanning crowds at a distance, flagging suspect individuals and referring them for further scrutiny by security.

"Schools, airports, stadiums or shopping malls—wherever there is a large number of people that you want to protect," Sarabandi said.

The Army is funding the University of Michigan team and work is underway to miniaturize the system to deploy on a robot.

Research has been conducted with computer simulations and an echo-reducing chamber with a mannequin wearing a leather jacket hiding a “weapon” of a block of was studded with nails.

The technology has yet to be tested on real guns or people.

Ballet dancer turned defense specialist Allison Barrie has traveled around the world covering the military, terrorism, weapons advancements and life on the front line. You can reach her at wargames@foxnews.com or follow her on Twitter @Allison_Barrie.

Allison Barrie

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Perry's Path to GOP Nomination Could be the Clearest

Maybe Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he’s decided to test the waters on a presidential run just because he’s feels left out.

For all the attention paid to the presidential possibilities of two members of the House (Paul Ryan and Michele Bachmann) and a reality show host (you know who), you’d never know that the Republicans had on their bench the three-term governor of the state with the nation’s best economy and the largest Republican population.

But for some reason, when Perry told people he wasn’t running, reporters believed him. If Chris Christie even flies over Iowa, the blogosphere goes into meltdown mode, but the political press for some reason mostly took Perry at his word.

It seems strange that they would have.

Perry, who has been governor for more than a decade, is a favorite of the Tea Party movement for his tough stands on state sovereignty, border security, taxes and gun rights. Anybody who packs heat when he jogs so he can blow away coyotes that mess with his Labrador retriever and hangs out with Ted Nugent at a Tax Day rally is going to have serious street cred with the Republican base.

As the Perry talk heats up, these primary election positives will be reinforced by liberals who find his Texas-fried politics to be repellant. Every time Democratic cable news talkers remind viewers that Perry once warned that Texas might secede from the union if Washington kept piling on new federal powers, somewhere in Iowa or South Carolina a Republican primary voter thinks, “Not bad.” When Perry gets chided for declining photo-ops with President Obama on visits to the state, somewhere in New Hampshire a guy with a “Don’t tread on me” flag on his bumper thinks, “Cool!”

But unlike some of the other Tea Party favorites, Perry has an easier case to make to establishment Republicans. His state has a $1.3 trillion economy now on track to pass California's as the nation’s largest. Perry has also avoided some of the hardest stands of the conservative movement. Consider that while Perry is constantly hectoring Obama for more border security, he declined to sign onto the movement for an Arizona-style crackdown on illegal immigration when it was very hot among Republican circles.

Raised on a cotton farm and prone to a strong Texas twang, Perry won’t be grabbing the wonk vote from Mitch Daniels’ fans. But as a 28-year political veteran who started his career as a Democrat and pushed his way to the head of the state GOP and now the national Republican Governors Association, Perry knows how to adapt, survive and compromise when he needs to.

Plus, Republicans are almost certain to pick a nominee who is or was a governor. It makes for more gravitas when running against a sitting president and the GOP just seems more comfortable with the strong, decisive type than coalition-building congressmen.

Republican’s haven’t lost a presidential election with a former governor since Thomas Dewey in 1948. All six of the Republican presidential losses in the same period have been with a current or former member of Congress.

So how could it be that the GOP hasn’t been looking harder at Perry, the 61-year-old Methodist who’s married to his high-school sweetheart? It’s partly because Perry has no ties to the East Coast media establishment. The people around him are pure Texas and he’s never done much that would catch the eye of the political press. He’s not exactly a symposium kind of guy.

So maybe Perry is just engaging in this presidential flirtation to make a point and raise his profile ahead of fundraising season when he will be hitting the road to raise money for his fellow governors. Maybe he thought it would nice just to be asked.

But whatever has brought him to this point, if he does take a serious look, he may find that he has clearer path to the nomination than anyone else.

Perry has a natural alliance with the most important potential kingmaker of the cycle, if Sarah Palin doesn’t run herself. He would provide the sharpest contrast – politically and culturally – with frontrunner Mitt Romney at a time when Republicans are eager for an alternative. And being from a large, wealthy state, he has the best chance to turn on the kind of fast fundraising necessary to contend with Romney’s mega bucks.

Now that he’s moseyed over to the pool, Perry may find good reason to dive in.

Chris Stirewalt is FOX News’ digital politics editor. His political note, Power Play, is available every weekday morning at FOXNEWS.COM.

Chris Stirewalt

View the original article here

Immigrants could cause a superbug apocalypse, scientists warn

• 

  Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria seen under a high-powered microscope.Bioquell

• 

  Two Bioquell Q-10 robots, recently tested at Johns Hopkins Hospital as superbug killing machines.Bioquell

Next Slide Previous Slide

Immigrants may import dangerous and potentially lethal superbug strains, a medical journal recently warned -- and robots may hold the answer.

Earlier this month, G8 countries and the World Health Organization were called upon to face the threat of a catastrophic superbug apocalypse. The prestigious medical journal Lancet warned that a rise in extensively drug resistant cases could produce an outbreak of an untreatable superstrain, in particular of tuberculosis (TB).

While TB can be cured with antibiotics, if untreated it can be fatal in half of cases. Stronger, drug-resistant strains can then develop from the bacteria in patients who fail to complete their six-month treatment cycle.

The report notes that Eastern European immigrants in particular pose a credible threat of importing these drug-resistant TB.

Just last week in Australia, a superbug known to have killed humans abroad breached an intensive care unit in Melbourne infecting ten patients – and this particularly nasty superbug spread is ability to resist drugs to entirely different bacteria.

Key Lines of Defense: Robots and Drugs
Both healthcare and the pharmaceutical industries must robustly act to preserve existing drugs, experts warn. They must also be encouraged to develop new antibiotics to make up for the gap created by the failure to do so for twenty years.

Europe’s Innovative Medicines Initiative, a new public private partnership, looks like it has potential to be replicated elsewhere to improve international defenses.

Better hygiene is another key measure -- and a recent report suggests deploying robot dynamic duos may be the answer.

Johns Hopkins Hospital infection control experts tested using robots as superbug killing machines.

Weighing in at about 60 pounds apiece, the two washing machine-sized robots worked together dispersing a bleaching agent into the air and then detoxifying the disinfecting chemical.

In the first head to head study of traditional hospital counter-superbug cleaning tactics versus next generation robots, the robots killed it – literally. The Bioquell made robots were extremely effective at preventing the spread of multiple-drug-resistant bacteria, the scientists said.

In fact, the robots reduced the patient’s chances of becoming colonized by the especially aggressive and difficult to treat bacterium, vancomycin-resistant enterococci by a whopping 80 percent.

Robots: What can’t they do?

Ballet dancer turned defense specialist Allison Barrie has traveled around the world covering the military, terrorism, weapons advancements and life on the front line. You can reach her at wargames@foxnews.com or follow her on Twitter @Allison_Barrie.

Allison Barrie

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Perry's Path to GOP Nomination Could be the Clearest

Maybe Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he’s decided to test the waters on a presidential run just because he’s feels left out.

For all the attention paid to the presidential possibilities of two members of the House (Paul Ryan and Michele Bachmann) and a reality show host (you know who), you’d never know that the Republicans had on their bench the three-term governor of the state with the nation’s best economy and the largest Republican population.

But for some reason, when Perry told people he wasn’t running, reporters believed him. If Chris Christie even flies over Iowa, the blogosphere goes into meltdown mode, but the political press for some reason mostly took Perry at his word.

It seems strange that they would have.

Perry, who has been governor for more than a decade, is a favorite of the Tea Party movement for his tough stands on state sovereignty, border security, taxes and gun rights. Anybody who packs heat when he jogs so he can blow away coyotes that mess with his Labrador retriever and hangs out with Ted Nugent at a Tax Day rally is going to have serious street cred with the Republican base.

As the Perry talk heats up, these primary election positives will be reinforced by liberals who find his Texas-fried politics to be repellant. Every time Democratic cable news talkers remind viewers that Perry once warned that Texas might secede from the union if Washington kept piling on new federal powers, somewhere in Iowa or South Carolina a Republican primary voter thinks, “Not bad.” When Perry gets chided for declining photo-ops with President Obama on visits to the state, somewhere in New Hampshire a guy with a “Don’t tread on me” flag on his bumper thinks, “Cool!”

But unlike some of the other Tea Party favorites, Perry has an easier case to make to establishment Republicans. His state has a $1.3 trillion economy now on track to pass California's as the nation’s largest. Perry has also avoided some of the hardest stands of the conservative movement. Consider that while Perry is constantly hectoring Obama for more border security, he declined to sign onto the movement for an Arizona-style crackdown on illegal immigration when it was very hot among Republican circles.

Raised on a cotton farm and prone to a strong Texas twang, Perry won’t be grabbing the wonk vote from Mitch Daniels’ fans. But as a 28-year political veteran who started his career as a Democrat and pushed his way to the head of the state GOP and now the national Republican Governors Association, Perry knows how to adapt, survive and compromise when he needs to.

Plus, Republicans are almost certain to pick a nominee who is or was a governor. It makes for more gravitas when running against a sitting president and the GOP just seems more comfortable with the strong, decisive type than coalition-building congressmen.

Republican’s haven’t lost a presidential election with a former governor since Thomas Dewey in 1948. All six of the Republican presidential losses in the same period have been with a current or former member of Congress.

So how could it be that the GOP hasn’t been looking harder at Perry, the 61-year-old Methodist who’s married to his high-school sweetheart? It’s partly because Perry has no ties to the East Coast media establishment. The people around him are pure Texas and he’s never done much that would catch the eye of the political press. He’s not exactly a symposium kind of guy.

So maybe Perry is just engaging in this presidential flirtation to make a point and raise his profile ahead of fundraising season when he will be hitting the road to raise money for his fellow governors. Maybe he thought it would nice just to be asked.

But whatever has brought him to this point, if he does take a serious look, he may find that he has clearer path to the nomination than anyone else.

Perry has a natural alliance with the most important potential kingmaker of the cycle, if Sarah Palin doesn’t run herself. He would provide the sharpest contrast – politically and culturally – with frontrunner Mitt Romney at a time when Republicans are eager for an alternative. And being from a large, wealthy state, he has the best chance to turn on the kind of fast fundraising necessary to contend with Romney’s mega bucks.

Now that he’s moseyed over to the pool, Perry may find good reason to dive in.

Chris Stirewalt is FOX News’ digital politics editor. His political note, Power Play, is available every weekday morning at FOXNEWS.COM.

Chris Stirewalt

View the original article here

Immigrants could cause a superbug apocalypse, scientists warn

• 

  Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria seen under a high-powered microscope.Bioquell

• 

  Two Bioquell Q-10 robots, recently tested at Johns Hopkins Hospital as superbug killing machines.Bioquell

Next Slide Previous Slide

Immigrants may import dangerous and potentially lethal superbug strains, a medical journal recently warned -- and robots may hold the answer.

Earlier this month, G8 countries and the World Health Organization were called upon to face the threat of a catastrophic superbug apocalypse. The prestigious medical journal Lancet warned that a rise in extensively drug resistant cases could produce an outbreak of an untreatable superstrain, in particular of tuberculosis (TB).

While TB can be cured with antibiotics, if untreated it can be fatal in half of cases. Stronger, drug-resistant strains can then develop from the bacteria in patients who fail to complete their six-month treatment cycle.

The report notes that Eastern European immigrants in particular pose a credible threat of importing these drug-resistant TB.

Just last week in Australia, a superbug known to have killed humans abroad breached an intensive care unit in Melbourne infecting ten patients – and this particularly nasty superbug spread is ability to resist drugs to entirely different bacteria.

Key Lines of Defense: Robots and Drugs
Both healthcare and the pharmaceutical industries must robustly act to preserve existing drugs, experts warn. They must also be encouraged to develop new antibiotics to make up for the gap created by the failure to do so for twenty years.

Europe’s Innovative Medicines Initiative, a new public private partnership, looks like it has potential to be replicated elsewhere to improve international defenses.

Better hygiene is another key measure -- and a recent report suggests deploying robot dynamic duos may be the answer.

Johns Hopkins Hospital infection control experts tested using robots as superbug killing machines.

Weighing in at about 60 pounds apiece, the two washing machine-sized robots worked together dispersing a bleaching agent into the air and then detoxifying the disinfecting chemical.

In the first head to head study of traditional hospital counter-superbug cleaning tactics versus next generation robots, the robots killed it – literally. The Bioquell made robots were extremely effective at preventing the spread of multiple-drug-resistant bacteria, the scientists said.

In fact, the robots reduced the patient’s chances of becoming colonized by the especially aggressive and difficult to treat bacterium, vancomycin-resistant enterococci by a whopping 80 percent.

Robots: What can’t they do?

Ballet dancer turned defense specialist Allison Barrie has traveled around the world covering the military, terrorism, weapons advancements and life on the front line. You can reach her at wargames@foxnews.com or follow her on Twitter @Allison_Barrie.

Allison Barrie

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Topping FBI's 'most wanted' list: UFO info

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New space station crew to launch and dock today in cosmic first

View the original article here

Immigrants could cause a superbug apocalypse, scientists warn

• 

  Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria seen under a high-powered microscope.Bioquell

• 

  Two Bioquell Q-10 robots, recently tested at Johns Hopkins Hospital as superbug killing machines.Bioquell

Next Slide Previous Slide

Immigrants may import dangerous and potentially lethal superbug strains, a medical journal recently warned -- and robots may hold the answer.

Earlier this month, G8 countries and the World Health Organization were called upon to face the threat of a catastrophic superbug apocalypse. The prestigious medical journal Lancet warned that a rise in extensively drug resistant cases could produce an outbreak of an untreatable superstrain, in particular of tuberculosis (TB).

While TB can be cured with antibiotics, if untreated it can be fatal in half of cases. Stronger, drug-resistant strains can then develop from the bacteria in patients who fail to complete their six-month treatment cycle.

The report notes that Eastern European immigrants in particular pose a credible threat of importing these drug-resistant TB.

Just last week in Australia, a superbug known to have killed humans abroad breached an intensive care unit in Melbourne infecting ten patients – and this particularly nasty superbug spread is ability to resist drugs to entirely different bacteria.

Key Lines of Defense: Robots and Drugs
Both healthcare and the pharmaceutical industries must robustly act to preserve existing drugs, experts warn. They must also be encouraged to develop new antibiotics to make up for the gap created by the failure to do so for twenty years.

Europe’s Innovative Medicines Initiative, a new public private partnership, looks like it has potential to be replicated elsewhere to improve international defenses.

Better hygiene is another key measure -- and a recent report suggests deploying robot dynamic duos may be the answer.

Johns Hopkins Hospital infection control experts tested using robots as superbug killing machines.

Weighing in at about 60 pounds apiece, the two washing machine-sized robots worked together dispersing a bleaching agent into the air and then detoxifying the disinfecting chemical.

In the first head to head study of traditional hospital counter-superbug cleaning tactics versus next generation robots, the robots killed it – literally. The Bioquell made robots were extremely effective at preventing the spread of multiple-drug-resistant bacteria, the scientists said.

In fact, the robots reduced the patient’s chances of becoming colonized by the especially aggressive and difficult to treat bacterium, vancomycin-resistant enterococci by a whopping 80 percent.

Robots: What can’t they do?

Ballet dancer turned defense specialist Allison Barrie has traveled around the world covering the military, terrorism, weapons advancements and life on the front line. You can reach her at wargames@foxnews.com or follow her on Twitter @Allison_Barrie.

Allison Barrie

Related Stories

94 percent of Java users vulnerable to exploits

Topping FBI's 'most wanted' list: UFO info

'Finding the Next Steve Jobs': Jobs' 1st boss talks

New space station crew to launch and dock today in cosmic first

View the original article here