Drone defenders

The increasing sophistication and affordability of drones have made them hugely popular with hobbyists as well as useful tools for many industrial purposes. But with expanded drone use comes the risk of misuse—from simple mischief to potential security threats at airports, military bases, and major public events.

Now counter-drone technology is giving law enforcement and other security professionals equally sophisticated tools to disable and even capture rogue drones without the dangers involved in shooting them out of the sky.

Airbus Defence and Space recently introduced its Counter-UAV System, a stationary system that uses radars and infrared cameras to detect UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) from as far away as 6 miles. The system determines a drone’s threat potential and either jams its signals or wrests control from the operator, whose location the system can also detect.

Another high-end counter-drone system, on the market since last May, is the $1.2 million Anti-UAV Defence System from Blighter Surveillance Systems. It uses radio waves to locate, track, and disrupt even a large drone, potentially locking it up until its batteries drain.

If you’re a law enforcement officer providing security to a VIP and need a portable, nonlethal counter-drone weapon, research and development firm Battelle has introduced a shoulder-fired, point-and-shoot ray gun with a range of up to 1,300 feet, according to Gizmag.com. The device uses a cone-shaped radio beam to jam the drone’s control and GPS frequencies, essentially disabling it.

But Mo Rastgaar, an associate mechanical engineering professor at Michigan Technological University, recently demonstrated perhaps the most ingeniously simple system for snagging rogue drones. He rigged up a large, six-rotor drone with a launcher that shoots a net at an intruder drone from up to 40 feet away. A video on the university’s website shows that, once netted, the intruder has no chance of escape.

“What makes this unique is that the net is attached to our catcher, so you can retrieve the rogue drone or drop it in a designated, secure area,” Rastgaar said in a statement. “It’s like robotic falconry.”

Chemo express

For many cancer sufferers, the standard treatment of regular doses of toxic chemicals—chemotherapy—often feels worse than the disease itself. Unpleasant side effects like hair loss, muscle and joint pain, and diarrhea happen because of the body’s own efforts to fight the drugs.

Now, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have tested a method of delivering chemo drugs such as paclitaxel in tiny biological containers that allow more of the drug to reach the tumor directly.

“That means we can use 50 times less of the drug and still get the same results,” Elena Batrakova, an associate professor at the university’s Eshelman School of Pharmacy, said in a press release.

The technique encapsulates the drug in what are called exosomes, tiny spheres taken from the patient’s white blood cells and made of cell membrane material.

“By using exosomes from white blood cells, we wrap the medicine in an invisibility cloak that hides it from the immune system,” said Batrakova. “We don’t know exactly how they do it, but the exosomes swarm the cancer cells, completely bypassing any drug resistance they may have and delivering their payload.” —M.C.