• SPACE DEBRISFalling Space Debris: How High Is the Risk I'll Get Hit?

    By Zulfikar Abbany, Julia Vergin, and Katja Sterzik

    An International Space Station battery fell back to Earth and, luckily, splashed down harmlessly in the Atlantic. Should we have worried? Space debris reenters our atmosphere every week.

  • THREATS TO INFRASTRUCTUREHouthi Attacks in Red Sea Threaten Internet Infrastructure

    By Nik Martin

    The recent attack on the cargo ship Rubymar by the Iran-backed Houthis caused the crew to drop anchor, which damaged undersea internet cables, the US has said. Could the vital infrastructure now become a regular target?

  • INFRASTRUCTUREInfrastructure Investment and Jobs Act: Unsung Hero Protecting Critical Infrastructure from National Security Threats

    By Heidi Crebo-Rediker

    One of the IIJA’s lesser known components is the investment it provides for resilience against cyber threats to critical infrastructure like ports, energy grids, transmission lines, and railways.

  • TEXAS WILDFIRESHow Climate Change Primed Texas to Burn

    By Naveena Sadasivam

    Over the past 10 days, five wildfires in the region have burned more than 1.2 million acres. The largest of them — dubbed the Smokehouse Creek Fire, for a creek near its origin — stretches across an area larger than Rhode Island. The state’s high plains get a month more fire weather now than they did in the 1970s.

  • TEXAS WILDFIRESTexas Requires Utilities to Plan for Emergencies. That Didn’t Stop the Panhandle Fires.

    By Emily Foxhall

    Experts say utilities need to be ready for extreme weather, which could be a challenge in a state where discussing climate change is often taboo. A review of portions of the state’s electricity code shows utilities have to plan for maintaining their equipment and responding in emergencies, but how they do so is largely left to the companies.

  • POWER GRIDHurricanes and Power Grids: Eliminating Large-Scale Outages with a New Approach

    Large scale-power outages caused by tropical cyclones can be prevented almost entirely if a small but critical set of power lines is protected against storm damages.

  • POWER GRIDIsraeli Tech to Help Modernize Pacific Northwest Power Grid

    By Abigail Klein Leichman

    Exodigo gets federal funding to help Pacific Northwest National Laboratory transition to underground electric power lines.

  • FLOODSHow Sponge Cities Work?

    By Aditi Rajagopal

    With concrete and asphalt covering areas once given over to grass and soil, the water from heavy rains has nowhere to go. Too often, that results in flooding, and cities around the world are now exploring ways to reverse this kind of urban development. And they are doing it by turning themselves into urban “sponges.” In other words, they are creating spaces and infrastructure to absorb, hold and release water in a way that allows it to flow back into the water cycle.

  • EARTHUAKESEarthquake Fatality Measure Offers New Way to Estimate Impact on Countries

    A new measure that compares earthquake-related fatalities to a country’s population size concludes that Ecuador, Lebanon, Haiti, Turkmenistan, Iran and Portugal have experienced the greatest impact from fatalities in the past five centuries.

  • PORT SECURITYShoring Up Ports to Withstand Cyberattacks

    By Jeff Seldin

    There are more than 300 ports in the United States, employing an estimated 31 million Americans, and contributing about $5.4 trillion to the country’s economy The White House is moving forward with reforms aimed at shoring up cybersecurity at U.S. ports, some of which may already be in danger of falling under the sway of hackers linked to China.

  • MARITIME SECURITYCharting the Future of Maritime Security

    The United States is a maritime nation surrounded by 95,000 miles of shoreline. Changes in economics, geopolitics, society, demography, or other factors, pose varied and evolving threats to the country’s maritime space – its waterways, ports of entry, and coastline borders.

  • SATELLITE SECURITYCybersecurity for Satellites Is a Growing challenge, as Threats to Space-Based Infrastructure Grow

    By Sylvester Kaczmarek

    In today’s interconnected world, space technology forms the backbone of our global communication, navigation and security systems. As our dependency on these celestial guardians escalates, so too does their allure to adversaries who may seek to compromise their functionality through cyber means.

  • INFRASTRUCTUREBolstering the Safety of the U.S. Network of Pipelines Carrying Hazardous Materials

    More than a half million miles of pipelines are used to transport natural gas, crude oil, liquid carbon dioxide, refined petroleum products, and an array of other flammable, toxic, or corrosive gases and highly volatile liquids across the United States. New report assesses the need for new regulatory standards for automatic and remote-control shutoff valves on existing liquid and gas transmission pipelines.

  • CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTUREThe Balticconnector Incident: Hybrid Attacks and Critical Infrastructure Protection

    By Swasti Rao

    There is the recognition that Europe needs to invest more resources to proactively prevent attacks such on those related to the Nord Streams in 2022 and Balticconnector in 2023. The European Union and individual EU countries are investing in new military measures as well as enacting new regulations aimed at protecting critical infrastructure.

  • PLANETARY SECURITYCan Astronomers Use Radar to Spot a Cataclysmic Asteroid?

    By Jill Malusky

    How can humans protect the Earth from devastating asteroid and comet impacts? According to the National Academies, ground based astronomical radar systems will have a “unique role” to play in planetary defense.