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Amid rising concerns that Chinese-made giant cargo cranes found at U.S. ports could be a security concern are new reports that communications devices have been found within the mammoth cranes. A report in the Wall Street Journal, citing congressional aides and documents, said cellular modems have been found that could be remotely accessed. The finding is potentially serious, because ZPMC, a China-based manufacturer, has made about 80 percent of the cranes that unload ships at U.S. ports. China “is looking for every opportunity to collect valuable intelligence and position themselves to exploit vulnerabilities by systematically burrowing into America’s critical infrastructure,...

An investigation has revealed suspicious communications devices inside Chinese-made cargo cranes used widely at US ports, supporting fears that the equipment could be part of an espionage plot. Cranes made by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries (ZPMC), a state-owned Chinese company, in some cases carry cellular modems, according to a congressional investigation reported by the Wall Street Journal on Thursday. The modems offer a potential backdoor for remote access, and do not appear to support the normal operations of the equipment, the investigation found. The discovery of the modems, which had not been previously disclosed, supports growing fears in US intelligence...

Temple of Apollo, built ca. 540 BC by the ancient greeks Temple of the Greek god Apollo, built ca. 540 BC, Corinth, Greece. Credit: Following Hadrian/CC BY-SA 2.0 Recent research shows that ancient Greeks used a primitive type of lifting machine to move heavy stones before they began using cranes 2,500 years ago. It is commonly believed that the foremost discovery of the ancient Greeks in building technology is the crane. Yet, enormous stone structures were known to have been built in Greece at least 150 years before the use of cranes themselves. Cranes first appeared in the late sixth...

SNIP The baby-stealing crane Growing up, I was frequently confronted with the stork tale. Disney films, cartoons and picture books all told me that newborn babies were found and delivered to their parents by these elegant, long-legged birds. The original myth, however, has a darker twist, with the bird stealing – or rescuing, depending on your perspective – the baby. The myth can be traced back to ancient Greece, where cranes, which share many similarities with storks, were associated with stealing babies. In Greek mythology, Hera, the goddess of childbirth, turned her rival Gerana into a crane with an elongated...

On February 5, a windy day in Lower Manhattan, a 565-foot crane collapsed and killed a man when it struck the parked car in which he sat. Crews had been planning to secure the Worth Steet crane because the forecast projected sustained winds at stronger than 25 mph, but they were too late. After the collapse, Mayor Bill de Blasio required crawler cranes, the mobile type of crane that can move around a work site, to cease operation and transition to safety mode anytime there are sustained winds of more than 20 mph or gusts of more than 30...

As the early-morning fog cleared at the Dunnellon airport in Marion County, Fla., and the temperatures slowly rose, 8-year-old Edon Palchar waited with his family to see whooping cranes for the very first time. The cranes, guided by an ultralight aircraft, were on their way to their winter homes at a wildlife refuge in Florida this week. Experts say there are only 350 of these rare birds left in the world. Their arrival is becoming an annual spectacle that draws thousands of bird lovers. Watching Live And On The Web For Edon Palchar, the coolest thing about the cranes is...

Talk about papering over a problem. Since January, the predominantly Muslim southern provinces of Thailand have been the scenes of violent separatist riots and terrorist bombings apparently linked to Jemaah Islamiyah, the al Qaeda affiliate in Southeast Asia. The death toll exceeds 500. So what's the Thai government to do? After an initially stern response tragically led to 78 prisoners suffocating in police trucks, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra chose a different approach. On Monday, the Thai Army air-dropped 100 million origami cranes over the region. Another 30 million cranes are to be delivered by land. The operation was meticulously planned...

The Super Boat Off Shore Racing teams are in town again. This is an inconvenience most of us are willing to put up with and usually enjoy. But this year the event coincides with the local developers deciding to shove one their cranes up our darker extremities. At 11:30 am Friday November 7, 2003 a tractor trailer with a crane mount, attempted to make the left turn off Hillsboro Blvd to head north on A1A. If you have trouble understanding this maneuver, try to imagine while the cab of the tractor trailer turns to head north, the top of the...