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The U.S. Air Force has successfully tested its new Paveway II Plus laser guided bomb. The existing Paveway II bomb has a range of 14 kilometers and will hit within less than half a meter of where the laser designator is reflecting off the target. Paveway is actually a guidance kit (costing about $20,000) that is fitted to a dumb bomb, turning it into a glide bomb that homes in on the reflected laser light. The Paveway II Plus is more accurate and reliable, but the exact figures are classified. Laser guided bombs have been in use since the 1960s....

MICROSCOPES are invaluable tools to identify blood and other cells when screening for diseases like anemia, tuberculosis and malaria. But they are also bulky and expensive. An engineer at U.C.L.A. has adapted cellphones to do the work of microscopes in screening for diseases. Now an engineer, using software that he developed and about $10 worth of off-the-shelf hardware, has adapted cellphones to substitute for microscopes. “We convert cellphones into devices that diagnose diseases,” said Aydogan Ozcan, an assistant professor of electrical engineering and member of the California NanoSystems Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, who created the devices....

Several high-priority and high-priced satellites crucial to U.S. national security are slated to launch over the next 15 to 18 months, according to Bruce Carlson, director of the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). During a keynote address here at the Strategic Space Symposium, Carlson did not provide details of the upcoming missions. Most of the NRO’s satellite programs are classified. Carlson noted the launches to make the point that the NRO continues to perform its mission despite having had its struggles in recent years. But Carlson also said the NRO has suffered a steep decline in its research and development...

The development schedule for a new U.S.-Israeli missile interceptor system is overly ambitious, and defense authorities likely will have to implement a backup plan if countries like Iran acquire a nuclear-tipped missile before the end of the next decade, according to defense experts. Advanced sensor and propulsion capabilities envisioned for the Arrow-3 interceptor likely will take significantly longer to develop than the five or six years estimated by Boeing Co., particularly given the program’s funding level, the experts said. “Look at any system that is developed — it takes 10 years from concept to deployment and there’s not much [funding]...

The U.S. space agency says blogs and tweets will be part of the upcoming launch of space shuttle Atlantis and its mission to the International Space Station. The shuttle is to lift off Monday, Nov. 16, at 2:28 p.m. EST from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA said the STS-129 mission will be commanded by Charles Hobaugh and piloted by Barry Wilmore. Mission astronauts are Robert Satcher Jr., Mike Foreman, Randy Bresnik and Leland Melvin. Wilmore, Satcher and Bresnik will be making their first trips into space. Atlantis and its crew will deliver equipment to the International Space Station....

In the future, asthmatic children may be able to monitor their condition using breath analysing sensors built into their mobile phones. Thanks to a UK company who have embedded a carbon nanotube sensor, which can monitor nitric oxide (NO) levels in exhaled breath, into mobiles. '200 different chemicals are exhaled in your breath,' says Victor Higgs, managing director of Applied Nanodetectors, during a demonstration of his company's latest prototype at the Nano and emerging technologies forum 09 in London this week. And these can be used to monitor and diagnose a wide range of diseases.  Nanotube sensors inside mobile phones could potentially be used...

One of the last regular users of JATO (Jet Assisted Take Off) rockets is dropping the practice. The U.S. Navy Blue Angels acrobatic team will no longer feature their C-130 (called "Fat Albert", and used to haul around the maintenance personnel and their equipment) doing a quick and fiery takeoff using JATO rockets. This was always a crowd pleaser, partly because you hardly see it anymore. JATO was first developed in the 1920s, to get gliders into the air. Later, especially during World War II, and a few decades after, JATO was used for getting aircraft off the ground quickly,...

The U.S. military said on Tuesday it is now tracking 800 maneuverable satellites on a daily basis for possible collisions and expects to add 500 more non-maneuvering satellites by year's end. The U.S. Air Force began upgrading its ability to predict possible collisions in space after a dead Russian military communications satellite and a commercial U.S. satellite owned by Iridium collided on Feb. 10. General Kevin Chilton, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, called the collision the "seminal event" in the satellite industry during the past year and said it destroyed any sense that space was so vast that collisions were...

Russian defense officials announced that the failed Bulava ballistic missile test last July, was due to a defect in the first stage steering system. This was fixed, and another test will take place before the end of the month. So far, the Bulava has been test fired eleven times. Only one of those tests was an unqualified success, and six were absolute failures. But the Russian government insists that development will continue, and succeed. The inept development of the new Bulava SLBM (Sea Launched Ballistic Missile) for the new Boeri class SSBN (nuclear submarine carrying SLBMs) has become a growing...

San Jose, California (CNN) One day, while uploading yet another text file to the Google Docs Web site, I started to wonder: When I save this file online, where does it actually go? I store tons of information on the Internet instead of just on my laptop or work computer. Often, I do this specifically so I can access information from both places, or from my mobile phone if I need it on-the-go. Without realizing it, I'd started cloud computing, that nebulous term that refers to the idea that computing power is moving off home PCs and laptops and onto...

Breakthrough in industrial-scale nanotube processingRice pioneers method for processing carbon nanotubes in bulk fluidsRice University scientists today unveiled a method for the industrial-scale processing of pure carbon-nanotube fibers that could lead to revolutionary advances in materials science, power distribution and nanoelectronics. The result of a nine-year program, the method builds upon tried-and-true processes that chemical firms have used for decades to produce plastics. The research is available online in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. "Plastics is a $300 billion U.S. industry because of the massive throughput that's possible with fluid processing," said Rice's Matteo Pasquali, a paper co-author and professor in...

DETROIT -- Chrysler Group will launch Fiat-designed diesel engines and dual-clutch transmissions in its North American products, Chrysler said today. The company also will launch its new Pentastar V-6 engine on the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee in the second quarter of 2010, said Paolo Ferrero, Chrysler powertrain chief. The Pentastar will replace all Chrysler’s V-6 engines, from 2.7-liter to 4.0-liter displacement. The first dual-clutch transmission will appear on a D-segment vehicle at the end of 2010. Also about that time, Chrysler will launch stop-start technology on the Jeep Wrangler. Chrysler did not immediately specify when it would introduce Fiat-derived diesel...

Christian Coalition of America supports the continuation of the policies (known as "Net Neutrality") that have helped build and maintain a free, open and vibrant Internet. These policies have been in place since the beginning of the Internet and have ensured fairness for all people and points of view. "Net Neutrality" is an issue extremely important to America's grassroots organizations and to those Americans who want to ensure the cable and phone companies controlling access to the Internet will not discriminate based on content. If current "Net Neutrality" policies don't remain in effect, consumers could possibly have to pay additional...

31 years ago, in 1978, the television program 60 Minutes put on an episode about the awful threat of "video piracy" to the movie industry. Featuring the MPAA's Jack Valenti, the episode focused on how the VCR was going to destroy the movie business because anyone could copy and watch a movie in the privacy of their own home. Of course, in retrospect, that episode is hilariously wrong. You would think that, given how wrong they got it thirty years ago on this particular subject, 60 Minutes would be a bit more careful taking on the same subject again. No...

It's blurrier than old MySpace snapshots, but it's there as expected. The Apollo Lunar Modules and the US flag left behind at the Apollo 17 landing site has been caught in a close-up image by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The lander as well as the flag, or rather the remaining flag pole, seen in the image above are exactly where they should be based on this shot by the Ascent Module "right after Apollo 17 lifted off the Moon": Going a step further, the location can be compared to more recent images of the landing site and everything still...

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) today announced the DARPA Network Challenge to mark the 40th anniversary of the Internet. The competition requires participants to discover the exact position of 10 large, red weather balloons that DARPA will place in undisclosed locations across the continental United States. The first person to identify the location of all the balloons will win a $40,000 cash prize. The balloons will be positioned on December 5, 2009. “It is fitting for DARPA to announce this competition on the anniversary of the day that the first message was sent over the ARPANET, the precursor...

Concern over the H1N1 swine flu has inundated the airwaves and the newspapers since active swine flu was first identified in Mexico in April. And though the panic has waned slightly in recent weeks because this variant of the flu is not living down to its deadly predictions (in fact, it’s not even as deadly as the seasonal flu), for many people, if not most people, perception trumps facts and statistics, and so there have been mass mobilizations to combat the contagion.  The campaign has included classes to convince people to avoid unnecessary contact with others; a huge expenditure to...

Death from the flu is often heartrending for those who have to watch: the victim, having been weakened from the flu virus, contracts pneumonia from bacteria or viruses that have taken hold in the lungs, and he or she struggles for every breath.  The victim’s breathing is often raspy, and it is abnormally fast, like the panting of a worn-out dog. As the victim’s body fights the lung infection, the lungs fill with pus and other fluids, cutting off the flow of oxygen and causing the victim to turn colors — from shades of gray to a bluish purple. The...

Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems was awarded a $46 million contract modification from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory to continue development of an infrared sensor intended for a missile warning system that may succeed the over-budget and behind-schedule Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) now in development. The Air Force several years ago began planning for a so-called third-generation missile warning system even as it continued to fall behind on the development of SBIRS, a program dogged by technical troubles. Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Sunnyvale, Calif., is the prime contractor for the SBIRS program, which consists of dedicated missile...

There've been satellites orbiting Earth for half a century. But getting information to and from them is still a pain. Which is why Pentagon research arm Darpa is looking to finally hook the orbiting spacecraft up with reliable broadband connections. It's part of a larger movement to extend terrestrial networks into space, and eventually build an "Interplanetary Internet." In the meantime, we might even get less-than-crappy satellite internet service - if the project works out, of course. Darpa recently issued a request for information about supplying "persistent broadband ground connectivity for spacecraft in low-Earth orbit." The idea would be to...

cptdondo writes "I've got an old laptop that I've been trying to resurrect. It has a 486MHz CPU, 28 MB of RAM, a 720 MB HD, a 1.44MB floppy drive, and 640x480 VESA video. It does not have a CD drive, USB port, or a network port. It has PCMCIA, and I have a network card for that. My goal is to get a minimal GUI that lets me run a basic browser like Dillo and open a couple of xterms. I've spent the last few days trying to find a Linux distro that will work on that machine. I've...

Initial fielding of FNH USA's Special Operations Forces Combat Assault Rifle (SCAR) to the US Special Operations Command (SOCOM)...is anticipated in early 2010 to fully equip the majority of [SOCOM]. So far 1,200 Mk 16 and Mk 17 SCAR weapon systems have been delivered...but...it expects a larger order for around 20,000 weapons next year...The order will also include...15,000 5.56 mm Mk 16 SCAR-Light and 5,000 Mk 17 7.62 mm SCAR-Heavy weapons as well as a number of 40 mm Mk 13 Enhanced Grenade Launcher Modules.

UAV NEWS NAVAIR And Augusta Demo Operations Of Multiple Swarms Of UAVs And Sensors EdgeFrontier products enable integration and normalization of data, events and control functions from diverse systems, as well as event processing and event and policy-based actions through a policy engine. For the demonstration, these capabilities resulted in a diverse, distributed, interoperable, intelligent network. by Staff Writers Morgantown WV (SPX) Oct 30, 2009 The U.S. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) recently demonstrated autonomous operations by multiple "swarms" of unmanned air and ground vehicles, unattended ground sensors, video cameras and other devices linked together in an intelligent network powered...

Dye-sensitized cells get a double boost from nanowires and optical fiber. Dye-sensitized solar cells are flexible and cheap to make, but they tend to be inefficient at converting light into electricity. One way to boost the performance of any solar cell is to increase the surface area available to incoming light. So a group of researchers at Georgia Tech has made dye-sensitized solar cells with a much higher effective surface area by wrapping the cells around optical fibers. These fiber solar cells are six times more efficient than a zinc oxide solar cell with the same surface area, and if...

MOSCOW -- Russia should build a new nuclear-powered spaceship for prospective manned missions to Mars and other planets, the nation's space chief said in remarks released Thursday.Anatoly Perminov first proposed building the ship at a government meeting Wednesday but initially didn't explain its purpose.He said in remarks posted Thursday on his agency's Web site that the nuclear spaceship should be used for human flights to Mars and other planets. He said the project is challenging technologically, but could capitalize on the Soviet and Russian experience in the field.Perminov said the preliminary design could be ready by 2012. He said it...

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked Japan last week to export a new type of ship-based missile interceptor under joint development by Tokyo and Washington to third countries, presumably European, sources close to Japan-U.S. relations said. Gates' request could lead to a further relaxation of Japan's decades-long arms embargo and spark a chorus of opposition from pacifist elements in the ruling Democratic Party of Japan and one of its coalition partners, the Social Democratic Party. Gates made the request concerning Standard Missile-3 Block 2A missiles during talks with Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa on Wednesday, the sources said. The SM-3 Block...

When the whole world’s going OLED TV crazy, how can a telly manufacturer differentiate itself? By creating a transparent model, of course. LG's transparent OLED screen apparently connected into a PC Credit: Tech-On Unfortunately for LG and Samsung, both firms have the same idea and recently demo'd their respective efforts in the field of see-though OLED displays at an electronics fair in Japan. In terms of size, LG was the winner. It demoed a 15in transparent OLED screen, compared to a paltry 2in offering from Samsung. Sammy has already shown off a 4.3in version for large handheld devices - the...

Further evidence for the asbestos-like effects of carbon nanotubes has emerged from a new study in mice. The study shows for the first time that the tubes reach the outer lining of the lung when inhaled - as asbestos does. But researchers say the results should be interpreted with caution.Carbon nanotubes, like asbestos, have high aspect ratios; in other words, they are long and thin, meaning they have the potential to get stuck when trying to cross the two layered membrane - the pleura - separating the lung from the chest wall. In the case of asbestos, fibres can dwell...

Netbook gravy train starts to slow as euphoria fades Netbook shipments have started cooling after witnessing an explosive surge since late last year as customers started realizing its limits and looking for portable and affordable alternatives for full-size laptops. According to Xia Li, vice-president of Lenovo Group, growth in netbook sales during the second half of this year has slowed as consumers have started becoming more rational in their purchases. "Netbook sales surged in the past as consumers bought the product as gifts or as first laptops," he said. But with consumers starting to realize the limits of the products,...

Boeing has announced the successful completion of two key reviews for the U.S. Army's High Energy Laser Technology Demonstrator (HEL TD) program. Completion of a critical design review in July allows Boeing to begin building a rugged beam control system on a Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT), a widely used military tactical vehicle. A system functional review in June addressed key enablers for fielding a next-generation, solid-state laser weapon system. "This demonstration program is making significant progress in developing a weapon system that will transform the way soldiers are protected on the battlefield," said Gary Fitzmire, vice president and...

Berkeley researchers find new route to nano self-assembly This electron micrograph shows a self-assembled composite in which nanoparticles of lead sulfide have arranged themselves in a hexagonal grid. (Credit: Image courtesy of DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) If the promise of nanotechnology is to be fulfilled, nanoparticles will have to be able to make something of themselves. An important advance towards this goal has been achieved by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) who have found a simple and yet powerfully robust way to induce nanoparticles to assemble themselves into complex arrays.By adding specific...

The U.S. Navy conducted successful test flights Sept. 3 and 4 of two Trident II D5 Fleet Ballistic Missiles (FBMs) built by Lockheed Martin. The Navy launched the unarmed missiles from the submerged submarine USS West Virginia (SSBN 736) in the Atlantic Ocean. The Trident II D5 missile now has achieved 129 consecutive successful test flights since 1989 - a record unmatched by any other large ballistic missile or space launch vehicle. "These successful missile tests again demonstrate the readiness and reliability of the entire Trident II D5 Strategic Weapon System," said Melanie A. Sloane, vice president of Fleet Ballistic...

Not even kidding - talk about a revolution in sidewalk pro-life counseling technology: The Star Trek Tricorder, a device that allows medics to check their patients in the field in the sci-fi TV show, took a step closer to becoming reality today thanks to a new device being shown off by General Electric in the US. The device, which is a cross between a mobile phone and an iPod was shown at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco on Tuesday. Called Vscan, the clamshell designed gadget is aimed at doctors, and possibly would-be parents who could use it in...

You would think that an unpiloted space plane built to rocket spaceward from Florida atop an Atlas booster, circle the planet for an extended time, then land on autopilot on a California runway would be big news. But for the U.S. Air Force X-37B project — seemingly, mum's the word. There is an air of vagueness regarding next year's Atlas Evolved Expendable launch of the unpiloted, reusable military space plane. The X-37B will be cocooned within the Atlas rocket's launch shroud — a ride that's far from cheap. While the launch range approval is still forthcoming, SPACE.com has learned that...

The U.S. Army has formed its second THAAD anti-ballistic missile (ABM) battery. The first battery was formed last year, and will be ready for combat next year. Next, the army will form two more THAAD batteries over the next three years. Three years ago, there was a successful test of THAAD (a SCUD type target was destroyed in flight) using a crew of soldiers for the first time, and not manufacturer technicians, to operate the system. Each THAAD battery has 24 missiles, three launchers and a fire control communications system. This includes an X-Band radar. The gear for each battery...

South Korea may buy four spy satellites over the next decade to monitor North Korea, the defence ministry said Wednesday. "Our ministry has been considering it but no decision has been made yet on who will be involved and details have yet to be fixed," a spokesman told AFP. He was commenting on a media report that said the ministry would forge technological cooperation with countries including Germany to secure the satellites. South Korean newspaper Dong-A Ilbo, quoting what it said was an internal ministry document, reported that the military plans to spend 600-700 billion won (514-600 million dollars) by...

Increasing energy demands and concerns about global warming mean that the sun is an important inexhaustible and clean energy source. Dye sensitised solar cells (DSSCs) have proved to be a highly efficient and low-cost option for conversion of sunlight to energy. Ruthenium dye photosensitisers have given the highest power conversion efficiency in the past but they are not very environmentally friendly and supply is limited, explains Eric Diau at the National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan. Diau and his team took inspiration from nature by developing a dye based on porphyrin - a component of chlorophyll, which gives plants their green...

Mini lasers at work A new microscopy technique that turns molecules into "mini lasers" has been developed by researchers in the US. The new method could help scientists to study biological samples containing "dark molecules", which are invisible to today's advanced fluorescence microscopes. Fluorescence microscopy is the technique of choice for obtaining high-resolution images of biological samples. It works by tagging molecules in the sample with fluorophores – molecules that emit light shortly after being illuminated with light of a shorter wavelength. However, some important biological molecules such as haemoglobin cannot be tagged in this way, rendering them invisible...

Enlarge ImageConceptual bridge. This tiny silicon beam links light to vibration, potentially opening the way to technologies that combine optics and mechanics.Credit: M. Eichenfield et al., Nature, Advanced Online Publication (18 October 2009) A tiny ladderlike beam of silicon converts light into vibrations and vice versa with extremely high efficiency, physicists report. That may seem like an esoteric result, but the finding could open the way to new physics and someday serve as a key element in optical microcircuits akin to the electronic microcircuits in computer chips. Although the effect is ordinarily very small, light exerts forces on the...

The U.S. Army has activated its second Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery during a ceremony at Fort Bliss, Texas. THAAD is a defensive weapon system developed by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, a joint service organization within the Department of Defense. The ceremony marked the activation of A Battery/2nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command. The battery's equipment will consist of THAAD interceptors, launchers, a fire control and communications unit and radar. The commander of the new unit is Capt. Brendan McShea. Col. Joseph DeAntona of 11th Air Defense...

China recently announced the decommissioning of "Submarine 303." This was a Type 33 boat (a copy of the Russian Romeo class). Romeo was the successor to the Russian Whiskey class boats, which were, in turn, based on the German Type XXI. The German design first showed up in 1943, and was the first modern submarine, in that it was designed to spend most of its time underwater (with just the snorkel device and periscope above water, to bring in air for the diesel engine and crew). The Type XXI was a 1,600 ton (on the surface) sub, compared to the...

  Marc Boucher Thursday, October 22, 2009 However if NASA had a less-constrained budget with increasing annual expenditures by approximately $3 billion in real purchasing power they could sustain a viable exploration program. The Committee identified the following questions that, if answered, would form the basis of a plan for U.S. human spaceflight: 1. What should be the future of the Space Shuttle? 2. What should be the future of the International Space Station (ISS)? 3. On what should the next heavy-lift launch vehicle be based? 4. How should crews be carried to low-Earth orbit? 5. What is the most...

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Vivek Wadhwa, an entrepreneur turned academic. He is a Visiting Scholar at UC-Berkeley, Senior Research Associate at Harvard Law School and Executive in Residence at Duke University. Follow him on Twitter at @vwadhwa. I spent Columbus Day in Sunnyvale, fittingly, meeting with a roomful of new arrivals. Well, relatively new. They were Indians living in Silicon Valley. The event was organized by the Think India Foundation, a think-tank that seeks to solve problems which Indians face. When introducing the topic of skilled immigration, the discussion moderator, Sand Hill Group founder M.R. Rangaswami...

An AT&T executive has asked employees to post opposition to net neutrality rules being considered by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission on an FCC Web site using their personal e-mail addresses, prompting accusations of unfair advocacy by an opposing group. The AT&T letter, sent this week by Jim Cicconi, senior executive vice president of external and legislative affairs, asks employees to go to OpenInternet.gov and use a personal e-mail address to join the discussion forum there. The letter then gives five talking points that AT&T employees can use to argue against net neutrality in the days leading up to Thursday’s...

An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from Wired: "In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of the CIA and the wider intelligence community, is putting cash into Visible Technologies, a software firm that specializes in monitoring social media. It's part of a larger movement within the spy services to get better at using 'open source intelligence' — information that's publicly available... Visible Technologies crawls over half a million web 2.0 sites a day, scraping more than a million posts and conversations taking place on blogs, online forums, Flickr, YouTube, Twitter and Amazon. (It doesn't touch closed social networks, like Facebook, at the...

Introduction: Surgery is the established treatment for early stage primary lung cancers (cancer that started in lung) or limited secondary cancers (cancer that started outside and spread to lung, also known as metastases or metastatic cancer). External beam radiation is an alternative local therapy to surgery, particularly for patients who are not candidates for surgery due to other medical conditions. Thermal ablation, using either heat or cold, is a newer treatment to destroy cells in lung tumors. Heat is most commonly used, and is referred to as Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA). RFA of tumors has gained significant interest and acceptance in...

So the United States Chamber of Commerce (USCC) puts forward the denier’s opinion that having the Environmental Protection Agency regulate so-called greenhouse gasses is bad for the economic strength of the United States. Some companies quit the Chamber. Now we’ve got fake USCC Web sites and news releases “reversing” their opinion? The fake Web page that has the release is exactly like the Chambers real site, but the URL is totally wrong. Click on the graphic below to see the full page.

Crystals that can confine both light and vibrations could create better biosensors.The crystal traps vibrations and light in the same place.Eichenfield M., et al. Light and mechanical vibrations have been imprisoned together for the first time ever in the same place. An artificial crystal that traps both could lead to ultra-sensitive biosensors, create an interface for devices on a chip and provide an elegant cooling mechanism to help test quantum limits. The communications industry has long used specially patterned materials, called photonic crystals, to guide light through optical fibres. Similar structures, known as phononic crystals, manipulate mechanical vibrations and are...

Introducing three genes corrects motor defects in monkeys.A potential gene therapy for Parkinson's disease can correct motor deficits in monkeys without causing the jerky, involuntary movements that often accompany long-term treatments for the disease. The approach is undergoing preliminary testing in a handful of human patients, who have all shown promising signs of improvement.At present, the most common remedy for Parkinson's disease involves replacing dopamine — the neurotransmitter that is depleted in patients with the disease — by administering the dopamine precursor levodopa, or L-DOPA. Most patients initially regain near-normal motor control, but after several years on L-DOPA the majority...

US scientists are targeting an enzyme essential to bacterial metabolism in the search for new antibiotics.Michael Burkart of the University of California, San Diego, and Anton Simeonov from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, and coworkers have developed a high-throughput kinetic assay to screen small molecules as inhibitors of surfactin-type phosphopantetheinyl transferase (Sfp-PPTase) enzymes.Transferases are among a group of enzymes that can add and remove groups from proteins after their polypeptide backbone has been built - a process known as posttranslational modification. The enzymes are of biological and pharmaceutical interest as their inhibitors have been suggested as avenues for antibacterial,...