Google, NASA step into quantum computing

Google, NASA and Universities Space Research Association this week invested roughly $15 million in a 512-qubit quantum computer their researchers will use to develop myriad applications from machine learning, web search and speech recognition to searching for exoplanets.

The machine known as D-Wave Two and built by D-Wave Systems will be installed at the new Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab, a collaboration among NASA, Google and USRA.

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NASA: Mars hit by some 200 small asteroids or bits of comets per year

You'd need an umbrella made of kryptonite if you were to go walking on Mars apparently.

NASA scientists using images from the space agency's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) have estimated that the planet is bombarded by more than 200 small asteroids or bits of comets per year forming craters at least 12.8 feet (3.9 meters) across.

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DHS wants iOS or Windows-based biometric devices for rapid, remote identification of bad guys

The Department of Homeland Security recently put out a call to the wireless industry looking for information on the best biometric technology available for mobile devices that could help it quickly identify suspects in the field.

The DHS said it is the devices need to be capable of obtaining biometric (fingerprints and facial recognition) and biographic information and communicating wirelessly through a virtual private network (VPN).

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FBI/IC3: Impersonation, intimidation and scams, yep that’s the Internet

The FBI and Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) issued their annual look at the state of the dark side of the Internet which is indeed thriving with all manner of scams and intimation tactics being used by criminals.

[RELATED: An inside look at the fraud blight]

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NASA lurches toward 2014 unmanned aircraft competition

NASA today said it was moving ahead with its plan to hold a Centennial Challenge completion next year that will ultimately result in future unmanned aircraft technology.

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DARPA moves to create high-power but very cool (literally) cathode technology

Traditional high-powered cathode electron emitter-based equipment for high-bandwidth communications, security screening or imaging applications can run hot, significantly shortening the lifespan and usefulness of the equipment.

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Remembering the little desk lamp that could: Pixar’s “Luxo, Jr. “

People can toss around the phrase "game-changer" with perhaps a little to much ease these days but the two-minute short animated film "Luxo Jr'" released in 1986 by Pixar could be argued invented the term - at least in the world of computer animation.

If you have never seen it, the movie revolves around two desk lamps: one large and one small.  The larger lamp watches while the smaller, "younger" lamp excitedly smacks around a small ball but in the end ends up squishing it and moving onto a larger beach ball.

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IBM premiers world’s smallest movie - starring 10,000 atoms

Not that it's going to give the next Daniel Day Lewis movie a run for Oscar gold, but IBM today said it had created the world's smallest movie made from thousands of precisely placed atoms on nearly 250 frames of stop motion action.

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Carnegie Mellon develops wee QWERTY texting technology for impossibly tiny devices

If smartwatches and other ultra-small devices are to become the text generators of the future, their diminutive keyboards are going to have to be way more useful for, um, big fingered typists.

Carnegie Mellon researchers may have the answer to that problem.   Called ZoomBoard, the text entry technique is based on the iconic QWERTY keyboard layout.

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DARPA wants huge Holy Grail of mobile ad hoc networks

Even the often far-reaching researchers at Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) seems to think this one is a stretch: Develop what's known as mobile ad-hoc wireless technology that lets 1000- 5000 nodes connect simultaneously and securely connect in the field.

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More weirdness at TSA passenger screening: Human skull fragments found

Some of the weirdest and scary stuff passes through our countriy's airports - guns, hand grenades, stun guns and samurai swords to name a few but this has to be one of the strangest: human skull fragments.

RELATED: 25 crazy and scary things the TSA has found on travelers

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Getting junk out of Earth’s orbit needs more urgency

The international space community needs to get a whole lot more serious about cleaning up the debris in orbit - especially in low Earth orbit where critical satellites operate and future space missions will maneuver.

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IBM robotic coworker will help engineers fix broken systems

When it comes to fixing broken systems, especially in remote locations, engineers could soon turn to a new mobile robotic system IBM is developing that could help them more easily find the broken equipment, offer up information about the system and provide real-time visual support from supervising experts.

The mobile maintenance, repair and operations prototype includes an application that lets a supervisor  monitor an engineer's progress towards the maintenance site, and a robotic arm coupled with a camera system, a microphone and laser pointer.

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FAA on travel delays: Get used to it

The term sequestration has certainly become a  four-letter word for many across the country - and now you can count business and regular traveling public among those hating its impact.

[25 crazy and scary things the TSA has found on travelers]

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IBM researchers model human blood system to build solar power prototype

IBM today said its researchers are developing a solar power system that concentrates solar radiation 2,000 times by using a human-blood supply modeled way of cooling and converting 80% of Sun's heat into useful energy. IBM says the system can also desalinate water and cool air in sunny, remote locations where such systems are often in short supply.

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An inside look at the fraud blight

While the Internet opens up a world of e-commerce it continues to be a playground for delinquents to commit fraud - which is just part of an almost unbelievable trend that found 25.6 million adults - 10.8% of the adult population - hit by the crime in 2011.

[RELATED: FTC: Identity theft retains its throne as No.1 worst scourge in Top 10 consumer complaint list]

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Solar electric spacecraft propulsion could get NASA to an asteroid, beyond

In the process of detailing its $17.7 billion 2014 budget this week, NASA highlighted a mission to snag a 500 ton asteroid, bring it back, stash it near the moon and study it.  It also took the time to put in a plug for an ongoing research  project it has gong called Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) that NASA says could be the key technology it needs to pull off the asteroid plan.

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Can NASA, Air Force, private industry really mitigate asteroid threat?

There has been much chatter about the threat of an asteroid or significant meteor strike on Earth in the past few weeks - mostly caused by the untracked meteor that blasted its way to international attention when it exploded in the sky above Russia injuring nearly 1,200 people in February.

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“Fantastic Voyage” microrocket technology coming to a body near you -- maybe yours

In the 1966 science fiction classic "Fantastic Voyage," a tiny submarine with a crew of five is miniaturized and injected into a comatose man to surgically laser a blood clot in his brain and save his life.

At this week's American Chemical Society Nanoengineering expert Joseph Wang detailed his latest work in developing micromotors and microrockets that are so small that thousands would fit inside this "o" that could bring new medical and industrial applications.

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Scientists tout advanced process to find surgical robot bugs before the bot cuts off something important

When it comes to having robotic surgeons slicing around inside your brain, heart or other important body organ, surgeons and patients need to know that a software or hardware glitch isn't going to ruin their day.

That's why a new technique developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory that promises to reliably detect software bugs and verify the software safety surgical robots could be a significant development.

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