• Improving critical infrastructure protection

    Salt River Project (SRP), the U.S. third-largest public power utility, recently announced that it had teamed with Quantum Secure to help protect its facilities

  • Creating incentives to purchase disaster insurance

    Natural disasters have become more common and more expensive – still, death, injury, and financial losses can be reduced through incentives to purchase insurance and install protective measures

  • Engineering lessons of Fukushima

    Many engineers and scientists are still examining what happened at Fukushima during the earthqyake and tsunami of 11 March; one group, a Tsunami Loads-and-Effects Subcommittee sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), is preparing to publish early next year an approximately 350-page report

  • Blackberry service disruption spreads across North America

    Research in Motion announced earlier today that the 3-day disruption of the company’s e-mail services has now spread across North America; it is the worst such disruption of service in two years; analysts say it is a major blow to the already-struggling company; not only individuals, but also private companies and government agencies may now reconsider their reliance on Blackberrys as their preferred mode of communication

  • Reducing exposure to groundwater arsenic

    Well diggers in Bangladesh will soon be able to take advantage of a cell phone-based data system, developed at the Earth Institute, to target safe groundwater aquifers for installing new wells that are not tainted with arsenic

  • Rising political, economic tensions over critical minerals

    The clean energy economy of the future hinges on many things, chief among them the availability of the scores of rare Earth minerals and other elements used to make everything from photovoltaic panels and cellphone displays to the permanent magnets in cutting edge new wind generators; trouble is, China currently controls about 97 percent of the mining and production of the minerals, and it is using that control to give Chinese companies an advantage and for political pressure on other countries

  • Smartphones now capable of detecting gas

    Last week the DHS Science and Technology division showcased its latest invention, a smartphone capable of detecting dangerous gases; The device is capable of issuing an alarm to wake the phone’s owner, sending a text message to warn emergency contacts, or dialing 911 if dangerous amounts of carbon dioxide are detected

  • Survey finds small biz unprepared for cyber attacks

    A recent survey found that many small businesses are not prepared for cyber threats and potential data breaches

  • Infrax System, Defendec to distribute Smartdec systems in U.S.

    Smartdec System provides offers a solution for securing critical infrastructure assets; the battery-powered wireless system detects intruders on the perimeter of remote sites and helps to prevent vandalism, terrorism attacks, thefts, and accidents

  • Securing financial infrastructure against cyberattacks

    To protect the U.S. financial sector from increasingly ubiquitous and costly cyberattacks, DHS plans to work more closely with other federal agencies as well as the private sector to defend against hackers

  • Self-repairing composites repair cracks in coating of buildings, bridges

    Researchers have developed vascularized structural composites, creating materials that are lightweight and strong with potential for self-healing, self-cooling, metamaterials, and more; these artificial microvascular systems can self-repair of materials damage, such as cracks in a coating applied to a building or bridge

  • Protecting structures against firebrand attack

    NIST engineers have built a device that bellows showers of glowing embers, or firebrands, to test how structures can withstand this destructive aspects of wild fires; in Japan, where the device is now used in a test facility, firebrands are a growing peril that accounts for half of the nation’s ten most costly fires

  • Connecticut town considers charging centers for power outages

    Following Hurricane Irene which left thousands without power up and down the East Coast, a town in Connecticut is considering building several charging stations for residents to power up their hand held electronics during a natural disaster or prolonged power outage

  • Pentagon expends cyber networks security project

    The Pentagon plans to extend a cyber defense pilot program intended to help protect U.S. defense contractors from cyberattacks to more private companies, subcontractors, and industries such as power plants

  • NIST offers comprehensive risk assessment guidance for federal information systems

    NIST has released two new publications dealing with risk assessment; one is the authoritative source of comprehensive risk assessment guidance for federal information systems, the other, an update to a March 2011 publication, focuses exclusively on risk assessments