UCLA police, who were called on to handle some of the nation's largest campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war last spring, are asking for approval to double their stockpile of pepper balls and sponge rounds, obtain eight more projectile launchers and purchase three new drones. The University of California Board of Regents will consider the requests by UCLA, along with the other nine UC campus police departments, on Thursday. All California law enforcement agencies are required by state law to report annually on the acquisition and use of weapons characterized as "military equipment." A UC spokesman called the police requests a "routine agenda item" not tied to protests or other particular incidents. "All of the campus's requests are for non-lethal alternatives to standard-issue firearms, enabling officers to de-escalate situations and respond without the use of deadly force," UC spokesman Stett Holbrook said in a statement.

Because Jupiter's moon, Europa, has oceans lying beneath its surface, it said to be one of the most likely places in the solar system for life to thrive – researchers just have to burrow through miles of ice to find out. Now, NASA has unveiled a team of robotic prototypes equip with special tools to penetrate the frozen terrain and search for signs of living microbes. The squad of'icebots' includes a machine that tunnels through the icy surface, a folding boom arm, an ice gripping claw and a projectile launcher capable of grabbing samples up to 164 feet away. The team of'icebots' includes a machine that tunnels through the icy surface, a folding boom arm, an ice gripping claw (pictured) and a projectile launcher capable of grabbing samples up to 164 feet away NASA has unveiled a set of robotic prototypes that it said could one day travel to Europa. One prototype was inspired by so-called'melt probes' used here on Earth – dubbed the ice-gripping claw.