Perhaps the saddest byproduct of acts of orchestrated violence isn't the staggeringly high body counts that can accrue, but the bodies that aren't counted. Conflicts like the one that ripped apart the former-Yugoslav states in the 1990s and the ongoing crisis in Syria are generally marked by dually appalling statistical categories - the one counting the confirmed dead and the one tallying the missing, victims of atrocities or otherwise that are often buried without marker or record. Mexico is no stranger to such unmarked and often mass graves, a consequence of the ongoing drug-related violence there, so its perhaps an appropriate venue for researchers to launch a collaboration to develop new technological tools to help locate and exhume hidden graves.

It started with a crowdfunding project last August. Now, nine months later, the world's first 3-D printed gun is here. Announced via Forbes exclusive on Friday, the design, called the Liberator, is now available for download.

The retail giant Kroger is using infrared cameras in 95 per cent of its stores, and if all goes as planned, no one will even notice the cameras are there.

Robots, while awesome, tend to be clumsy in unpredictable human environments. Machines that use hands as deftly as humans do, with only minimal direction, would be a tremendous boon to rescue and hazardous work. They'd also be a major step toward useful, multipurpose household robots.

Army researchers at the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) are developing new technology that could help US troops battle chemical warfare. The technology, a canister about the size of a soda can, can sniff out dangerous chemicals and relay information about potential hazards back to troops.

The same chemical that makes fertilizer so useful also makes it really cheap bomb fuel. Researchers at Sandia labs in Albuquerque wondered if they could render the explosive properties of fertilizer inert while still keeping the beneficial properties intact, and this week announced success in a test batch. Even better, they're sharing the innovation for free.