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Floridians Believe in Climate Change, Want Government Action
The latest edition of the Florida Climate Resilience Survey found that 90 percent of Floridians believe climate change is happening, a higher figure than in the nation as a whole: a recent Yale University survey found that 74 percent of Americans as a whole think climate change is happening.
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Navigating the Risks and Benefits of AI: Lessons from Nanotechnology on Ensuring Emerging Technologies Are Safe as Well as Successful
Twenty years ago, nanotechnology was the artificial intelligence of its time. The specific details of these technologies are, of course, a world apart. But the challenges of ensuring each technology’s responsible and beneficial development are surprisingly alike.
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Happy 60th Birthday to Vela, Watchman for Nuclear Detonations
Sixty years ago last week, on Oct. 16, 1963, the United States launched a pair of satellites whose primary purpose was to determine the feasibility of using satellites to detect nuclear detonations in outer space. The satellites were part of the Vela program, initiated in 1959 to provide a nuclear detonation detection capability to verify compliance with nuclear treaties. On Sept. 27, 1984, the last of the Vela satellites were turned off.
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Arizona Is Evicting a Saudi Alfalfa Farm, but the Thirsty Crop Isn’t Going Anywhere
As Arizona struggles to adapt to a water shortage that has dried out farms and scuttled development plans, one company has emerged as a central villain. The agricultural company Fondomonte, which is owned by a Saudi Arabian conglomerate, has attracted criticism over the past several years for sucking up the state’s groundwater to grow alfalfa and then exporting that alfalfa to feed cows overseas. Now Arizona has cancelled one of the company’s leases and says it will not renew the others, but the decision will do little to solve a water shortage largely driven by irrigated agriculture.
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China, U.S. Escalate Trade-Restrictions War
The Chinese government announced Friday that it would tighten export controls on graphite, a material essential to the construction of batteries used in electric cars and other green energy systems and of which China is the world’s preeminent supplier. The move came days after the Biden administration announced that the United States would widen the list of semiconductors that it prevents from being exported to China.
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Tackling Fake News
Cutting-edge technologies gave the world fake news, but researchers are developing even newer technology to stop it. Their innovative system — the first of its kind — relies on something already famous for underpinning Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies — blockchain.
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Experts Warn of Risk of Civil Unrest in U.K. Due to Food Shortages
Food shortages—especially a shortage of popular carbohydrates such as wheat, bread, pasta, and cereal — caused by extreme weather could lead to civil unrest in the U.K., according to a new study, which has surveyed some of the country’s leading food experts.
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Testing Seafloor Fiber Optic Cable as an Earthquake Early Warning System
One of the biggest challenges for earthquake early warning systems (EEW) is the lack of seismic stations located offshore of heavily populated coastlines, where some of the world’s most seismically active regions are located. Researchers show how unused telecommunications fiber optic cable can be transformed for offshore EEW.
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New Cyber Algorithm Shuts Down Malicious Robotic Attack
Researchers have designed an algorithm that can intercept a man-in-the-middle (MitM) cyberattack on an unmanned military robot and shut it down in seconds.
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Critical Vulnerabilities Found within Major LLMs
Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT and Bard have taken the world by storm this year, with companies investing millions to develop these AI tools, and some leading AI chatbots being valued in the billions. Computer scientists have demonstrated that chunks of these LLMs can be copied in less than a week for as little as $50, and the information gained can be used to launch targeted attacks.
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Responsible AI Initiative Seeks to Solve Societal Problems
With a $100 million investment, a new research initiative focuses on artificial intelligence (AI) that aims to responsibly use advanced AI technology to tackle societal issues.
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Fueling the Future of Fusion Energy
Long considered the ultimate source of clean energy, nuclear fusion promises abundant electrical power without greenhouse gas emissions or long-lasting radioactive waste. The process has fueled the core of the sun for more than four billion years – with billons more to go. Nore scientists are joining the global pursuit of harnessing that reaction.
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Modular Dam Design Could Accelerate the Adoption of Renewable Energy
Researchers have developed a new modular steel buttress dam system designed to resolve energy storage issues hindering the integration of renewable resources into the energy mix. The m-Presa modular steel buttress dam system cut dam construction costs by one-third and reduce construction schedules by half.
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Not the Usual Suspects: New Interactive Lineup Boosts Eyewitness Accuracy
Allowing eyewitnesses to dynamically explore digital faces using a new interactive procedure can significantly improve identification accuracy compared to the video lineup and photo array procedures used by police worldwide.
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Securing the Food Pipeline from Cyberattacks
Sensors detecting the amount of food that herds of cattle are eating. Machines taking thousands of photos of fruit per second to detect their defects and sort them by quality. Robots packing fruit and vegetables into bags and boxes for purchase at grocery stores: Researchers are protecting the food and agriculture sector.
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More headlines
The long view
Revolutionizing Resource Renewal: Scaling Up Sustainable Recycling for Critical Materials
Permanent magnets, which retain magnetic properties even in the absence of an inducing field or current, are used extensively in clean energy and defense applications. Rare earths are challenging to access because they are scattered across Earth’s crust, yet they are key components in many modern technologies. Recycled rare earths can be used to make new permanent magnets, accelerate chemical reactions and improve the properties of metals when included as alloy components.
Saving Seconds, Saving Lives: NIST-Funded Challenge Crowns Winners in 3D Tracking Technology
NIST has awarded $1.9 million to six teams for innovative 3D tracking solutions in the final phase of a competition. The winning designs combine localization and biometric monitoring, using sensors affixed to first responders’ equipment. This competition is part of an $8 million NIST-funded initiative to address first responders’ need for improved tracking in emergency settings where GPS falls short.
Number of People Affected by Tropical Cyclones Has Increased Sharply Since 2002
The number of people affected by tropical cyclones has nearly doubled from 2002 to 2019, reaching nearly 800 million people in 2019, according to a new study. More people are affected by tropical cyclones in Asia than any other region, but every affected world region saw an increase in the number of people exposed to tropical cyclones, which are expected to become more intense and possibly more frequent as the climate warms.
Unlocking Energy-Efficient Solution to Global Water Crisis
Researchers achieved a major breakthrough in Redox Flow Desalination (RFD), an emerging electrochemical technique that can turn seawater into potable drinking water and also store affordable renewable energy. Researchers achieved a major breakthrough in Redox Flow Desalination (RFD), an emerging electrochemical technique that can turn seawater into potable drinking water and also store affordable renewable energy.
For First Responders, Communication with Their Teams is Essential
When a first responder enters a building during an emergency, they count on being able to communicate with their team at all times. Their safety and their ability to carry out the mission relies on knowing they can reach help and support anywhere that they need to go within a structure.