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The U.K. Demands for Apple to Break Encryption Is an Emergency for Us All
The United Kingdom is demanding that Apple create an encryption backdoor to give the government access to end-to-end encrypted data in iCloud. Encryption is one of the best ways we have to reclaim our privacy and security in a digital world filled with cyberattacks and security breaches, and there’s no way to weaken it in order to only provide access to the “good guys.”
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Ukraine Needs U.S. Weapons. Trump Wants Its Rare Earth Minerals in Return.
President Donald Trump wants to condition future U.S. aid to Ukraine on getting more access to the country’s valuable “rare earth” minerals — minerals that are in increasing demand for batteries, computers, smart phones, and electric cars, not to mention weaponry.
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Trump’s Risky New Era of Broken Trade Norms
For many decades now, the international economy has been backstopped by a reasonably predictable set of rules, led by a United States that believed it had a strong national interest in nurturing that sort of predictability. With President Donald Trump’s decision over the week to declare a specious “emergency” for the purpose of slapping crippling tariffs on his continental neighbors, that era has come to an end.
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Trump’s Tariff Threats Fit a Growing Global Phenomenon: Hardball Migration Diplomacy
As an expert on migration policy and international affairs, I have observed the evolution of this global trend: nations leverage migration policies for geopolitical ends. While migration diplomacy does work both ways, richer countries by and large have the upper hand. And Trump’s threats against Colombia –and others –are just one example of this hardball migration diplomacy.
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A Michigan Nuclear Plant Is Slated to Restart, but Trump Could Complicate Things
The owners of a shuttered nuclear plant on the shores of Lake Michigan are still banking on its historic reopening later this year, despite the confusion of President Donald Trump’s first days.
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This Icebreaker Has Design Problems and a History of Failure. It’s America’s Latest Military Vessel.
The Coast Guard’s $125 million purchase of the Aiviq, made under congressional pressure, follows the service’s failure to get its preferred, $1 billion model built.
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China’s DeepSee Has Close Ties to Beijing
Rising AI star DeepSeek has close ties to the Chinese government that could explain its rapid progress from a 1 million yuan (US$138,000) startup in 2023 to a major global challenger in the industry, according to a recent investigation by RFA Cantonese. Founder Liang Wenfeng recently met with Premier Li Qiang to comment on his annual work report.
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Security Vulnerabilities Discovered in Apple Processors
The US tech giant Apple has always advertised security assurances alongside ever faster processor performance for its products. Now an international team of cybersecurity researchers has discovered at least two security vulnerabilities.
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DeepSeek: How a Small Chinese AI Company Is Shaking Up U.S. Tech Heavyweights
For consumers, access to AI may also become cheaper. For researchers who already have a lot of resources, more efficiency may have less of an effect. It is unclear whether DeepSeek’s approach will help to make models with better performance overall, or simply models that are more efficient.
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DeepSeek Shatters Beliefs About the Cost of AI, Leaving U.S. Tech Giants Reeling
Society may benefit from less computationally intensive, and therefore more energy-efficient, AI. However, the geopolitical risk of a single country capturing the market, together with concerns about data privacy, intellectual property and censorship may outweigh the benefits.
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5 Israeli Innovations for Fighting Wildfires
As regions from California to the Mediterranean face wildfire threats, these innovations can help win the battle against out-of-control flames.
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Trump and the Future of the USMCA
The joint review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) will be influenced by the discussions to reshape North American trade, migration, and security, as well as the need to address China’s growing influence in regional supply chains.
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Will Trump Spark a Mineral 'Gold Rush' in Greenland?
The mineral wealth on the Arctic island of Greenland is in the global spotlight after U.S. President Donald Trump said he wants to take control of the territory from Denmark, prompting alarm from European allies.
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In Times of Crisis, States Have Few Tools to Fight Misinformation
While officials in Southern California fought fire and falsehoods, Meta —the parent company of Facebook and Instagram —announced it would eliminate its fact-checking program in the name of free expression. As social media companies are pushing back against efforts to crack down on falsehoods, questions are asked about what, if anything, state governments can do to stop the spread of harmful lies and rumors that proliferate on social media.
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Securing Supply Chain Resilience Requires a Common Vocabulary and Vision
Under the Biden administration, progress has been made on strengthening the resilience of supply chains, but other gains are being left on the table. One reason why: The public and private sectors do not use a common vocabulary, leading to incomplete or misaligned incentives, priorities, and perspectives.
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The long view
Are We Ready for a ‘DeepSeek for Bioweapons’?
Anthropic’s Claude 4 is a warning sign: AI that can help build bioweapons is coming, and could be widely available soon. Steven Adler writes that we need to be prepared for the consequences: “like a freely downloadable ‘DeepSeek for bioweapons,’ available across the internet, loadable to the computer of any amateur scientist who wishes to cause mass harm. With Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4 having finally triggered this level of safety risk, the clock is now ticking.”
A Brief History of Federal Funding for Basic Science
Biomedical science in the United States is at a crossroads. For 75 years, the federal government has partnered with academic institutions, fueling discoveries that have transformed medicine and saved lives. Recent moves by the Trump administration — including funding cuts and proposed changes to how research support is allocated — now threaten this legacy.
Bookshelf: Preserving the U.S. Technological Republic
The United States since its founding has always been a technological republic, one whose place in the world has been made possible and advanced by its capacity for innovation. But our present advantage cannot be taken for granted.
Critical Minerals Don’t Belong in Landfills – Microwave Tech Offers a Cleaner Way to Reclaim Them from E-waste
E-waste recycling focuses on retrieving steel, copper, aluminum, but ignores tiny specks of critical materials. Once technology becomes available to recover these tiny but valuable specks of critical materials quickly and affordably, the U.S. can transform domestic recycling and take a big step toward solving its shortage of critical materials.
Microbes That Extract Rare Earth Elements Also Can Capture Carbon
A small but mighty microbe can safely extract the rare earth and other critical elements for building everything from satellites to solar panels – and it has another superpower: capturing carbon dioxide.