Grey zoneGaining Competitive Advantage for the U.S. in the Gray Zone

The United States is entering a period of intensifying strategic competition with several rivals, most notably Russia and China. U.S. officials expect this competition to be played out primarily below the threshold of armed conflict, in what is sometimes termed the gray zone between peace and war. The United States is ill prepared and poorly organized to compete in this space, but the United States can begin to treat the ongoing gray zone competition as an opportunity more than a risk.

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DroughtsWarming Climate Intensifies Summer Drought in Parts of U.S.

Climate change is amplifying the intensity and likelihood of heatwaves during severe droughts in the southern plains and southwest United States, according to a new study. The findings raise the idea of a self-reinforcing climate loop: as a region’s climate becomes more arid due to climate change, droughts become hotter, further reducing soil moisture.

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GeoengineeringPreventing West Antarctic Ice Collapse by Snowing Ocean Water onto It

The ice sheet covering West Antarctica is at risk of sliding off into the ocean. The slow, yet inexorable loss of West Antarctic ice is likely to continue even after climate warming is stabilized. A collapse will raise sea levels worldwide by more than three meters. Researchers are now scrutinizing a daring way of stabilizing the ice sheet: Generating trillions of tons of additional snowfall by pumping ocean water onto the glaciers and distributing it with snow canons.

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PerspectiveCriminal Prosecutions and Illegal Entry: A Deeper Dive

Since the first Democratic presidential debates at the end of June, candidates, pundits and former government officials have discussed whether provisions of law that turn unauthorized border crossing into the federal crime of “improper entry” – in addition to a civil immigration law violation – should be repealed. Over the last three years, researchers at Human Rights First have conducted extensive research and observed countless entry and re-entry prosecutions in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas. These prosecutions, as we have detailed in a series of reports, violate U.S. refugee treaty obligations, impinge on due process, separate children from their parents, waste government funds, and divert prosecutorial resources from serious criminal and security threats.

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Our picksWeaponized Ticks | Evolution of a Russian Troll | Facebook & 3D-printed Guns, and more

·  The Evolution of a Russian Troll

·  5G Health Fears Stem from Inaccurate, Debunked Claims

·  Microsoft Says It Notified Nearly 10,000 Customers that They Were Cyberattack Victims

·  Pentagon Contractor Allegedly Threatened to Kill Congresswoman Over Vaccine Bill

·  U.S. Cyber Command Simulated a Seaport Cyberattack to Test Digital Readiness

·  Army Goggles Will Feature Facial Recognition Tech ‘Very Soon’

·  Privacy Concerns Over Viral Photo Apps Are Totally Valid. But They’re Also Often Overblown.

·  Active Chinese Hacking Campaign Targeted Diplomats from Slovakia, South America

·  Facebook Quietly Relaxed Its Ban on Sharing Blueprints for 3D-printed Guns

·  The Conspiracy Theory That’s Got a Congressman Demanding a Probe into Weaponized Ticks

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Public healthGerman law would require measles vaccination to attend schools, kindergartens, daycare

German children will have to prove they have had a measles vaccination before they would be allowed to attend kindergarten or go to school. A new draft law imposes steep fines on parents who refuse to immunize their children.

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Radiation risksHelping first responders deal with dirty bombs

If a radiological dispersal device (RDD), or “dirty bomb,” ever explodes in the United States, emergency crews may be better prepared because researchers have developed a new simulator, which show first responders what an optimal response to an RDD would look like.

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AnthraxFighting anthrax by removing the bacterium’s armor

Anthrax is a deadly and highly resilient disease, caused by the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Historically, it was a major cause of death in humans and cattle. has shown that removing the armor of the bacterium that causes anthrax slows its growth and negatively affects its ability to cause disease.

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FloodsPredicting flood duration

The duration of floods can be determined by river flow, precipitation and atmospheric blocking. Researchers now offer a novel physically based Bayesian network model for inference and prediction of flood duration. The model also accurately examines the timescales of flooding.

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PerspectiveCalifornia’s Wildfires Are 500 Percent Larger Due to Climate Change

Californians may feel like they’re enduring an epidemic of fire. The past decade has seen half of the state’s 10 largest wildfires and seven of its 10 most destructive fires, including last year’s Camp Fire, the state’s deadliest wildfire ever. A new study finds that the state’s fire outbreak is real—and that it’s being driven by climate change. Since 1972, California’s annual burned area has increased more than fivefold, a trend clearly attributable to the warming climate. “Each degree of warming causes way more fire than the previous degree of warming did. And that’s a really big deal,” Park Williams, a climate scientist at Columbia University and an author of the paper, said. Among the many ways climate change might be messing with the environment, extra heat is among the simplest and most obvious. “Heat is the most clear result of human-caused climate change,” Williams said.

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