• New, quick method for identifying food-borne diseases

    European researchers have developed a system which prepares samples and performs DNA tests on the salmonella and campylobacter bacteria in a portable and cost-effective chip

  • Calgary researcher wins NIH grant for bacterial vaccine

    CDC considers glanders and melioidosis as potential bioterrorism agents; Canadian researcher receives NIH grant to develop a vaccine

  • The crisis of U.S. infrastructure, III

    The crisis of U.S. infrastructure is one of political will — the will, that is, to vote for money to maintain this elaborate infrastructure; the true political divide lie between Americans who are willing and able to pay up front for the nation’s needs — whether through taxes or tolls — and those who would rather skimp or burden their children

  • Predicting hurricanes

    During the summer and autumn, a large body of warm water with a surface temperature of more than 28 °C appears in the Gulf of Mexico; at certain times the current cannot remove heat fast enough from the gulf, creating conditions that are particularly favorable for intense hurricane formation

  • Is the U.S. prepared for a bioterror attack?

    Some experts believe a bioterrorist attack or pandemic outbreak could be inevitable. How would the United States fight back against an infectious disease outbreak?

  • Bioterrorism target for ventilation research

    Designing new HVAC systems for buildings would help tackle major threats to public safety including the release of noxious chemicals and bio-agents into public buildings

  • California unveils GIS initiative

    Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) enhance the technology for environmental protection, natural resource management, traffic flow, emergency preparedness and response, land use planning, and health and human services; California wants to avail itself of the technology’s benefits

  • Internet crawling helps in tracking infectious disease outbreaks

    New Web crawling tool helps identify and locate outbreaks of disease around the world

  • Worry: Pandemic mutations in bird flu revealed

    Despite the ability of H5N1 avian influenza virus to spread, it cannot be transmitted efficiently from human to human, indicating it is not fully adapted to its new host species, the human; new research, however, reveals mutations in the virus that may result in a pandemic

  • Global warming will cause storms to intensify

    Daniel Bernoulli’s eighteenth-century equation basically says that as wind speed increases, air pressure decreases; his equation leaves out variables that were considered difficult to deal with such as friction and energy sources; Wolverines researchers now include these additional variables and find that for every 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit that the Earth’s surface temperature warms, the intensity of storms could increase by at least a few percent

  • Rising sea level threatens U.K. coastal rail lines

    Andrew McNaughton, Network Rail’s chief engineer: “The effects of climate change, and in particular sea level rise, are likely to increase the severity of the wave, tidal and wind effects on coastal defenses”

  • September to be U.S. National Preparedness Month

    DHS says that more than 1,200 national, regional, state, and local businesses and organizations have pledged their support for the department’s initiative

  • U.K. critical infrastructure vulnerable

    New report says last summer’s flood showed infrastructure’s vulnerability; funding for flood defenses was not sufficient or secure, undermining industry confidence, and there were not enough skilled engineers to deliver the protection from flooding needed

  • CDC investigates possible non-tomato salmonella sources

    Continuing discovery of salmonella cases cause the FDA and CDC to suspect that fresh unprocessed tomatoes are not necessarily causing the outbreak that has sickened hundreds across the United States

  • Business continuity in a globalized economy

    Organizations are evolving their focus from reactive to proactive to adaptive as they prepare for and respond to crises and disruptions