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Nuclear proliferation looms, II
The growing interest in nuclear power generation will lead to more countries acquiring capabilities which can be converted to military use on a short notice; the risk of nuclear weapons proliferation is exacerbated by the fact the uranium producing countries such as Namibia, South Africa, Argentina, and Brazil, Canada, and Australia are seeking to cash in on the future growth in nuclear power generation by exporting uranium-enrichment technologies to those willing to pay
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Hacker posts data of six million Chileans
The personal information of one-third of the Chilean population posted on the Web, including information on the prime minister’s two daughters
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DOE seeks water power ideas to fund
The U.S. Department of Energy wants to encourage research into harnessing water power — ocean wave, tidal, current, and other water-based resources – for energy production
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Modelling the tide off the coast of Wales
Project aims to examine the viability of a £15 billion tidal-range development scheme which, within fourteen years, could generate about 5 percent of the U.K. supply of electricity
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Australia to invest in land transportation
The government of Kevin Rudd says that lack of investment in transportation over the past decade has pushed up the costs of doing business and contributed to inflation and interest rates pressures in the economy; the 2008-9 budget creates a new Building Australia Fund with a $20 billion budget to improve Australia’s infrastructure
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Nuclear proliferation looms, I
Owing to rising oil prices and worries about climate change, there is a growing interest in nuclear power generation; forty countries have told the UN nuclear agency of plans to develop nuclear power generation capability; experts worry that this interest in nuclear technology is fueled at least in part by interest in nuclear weapons - especially in Middle Eastern countries terrified about the rise of a nuclear-armed Iran
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FBI probes counterfeit Chinese network gear
The FBI launched Operation CiscoRaider aimed at getting to the bottom of a potentially serious problem: Counterfeit Cisco routers made in China and sold to U.S. IT vendors working on sensitive government computer systems; there is fear that the forged hardware would allow a Chinese intelligence backdoor into secret U.S. information
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Wind boom in the United States
New wind project in ten states brings U.S. wind power capacity to more than 18,000 MW, or enough to serve the equivalent of five million homes
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Scientists debate link between climate change and storm ferocity
Cyclone Nargis, just before it smashed into Myanmar, suddenly changed gear from a Category One to a Category Four cyclone just before it made landfall; similar changes were noted in other recent tropical storms; are changes linked to global warming?
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China's transportation vulnerability, I
China has a long history of rail, airline, and vehicle accidents; outdated or relatively unregulated transportation is a given in many parts of the world, but China has also seen an increase in attacks against transportation targets
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China's transportation vulnerability, II
China’s intensifying war against separatists groups, and its growing global posture, make it a growing target for Islamic terrorists; lack of gun availability and easy access to explosives make bombing of infrastructure assets the method of choice of terrorists
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U.S. wireless landascpe about to change
Clearwire, Sprint Nextel to form $14.55 billion wireless company which will deploy WiMAX networks across the United States; WiMAX’s speed dwarfs current wireless technologies, holding the potential of rendering cable and phone line Internet obsolete
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Thales supplies new signalling system
London transportation authorities improve control over and monitoring of vast underground rail system by installing improved signalling control from Thales
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Hundreds of U.K. critical infrastructure facilities at flood risk
A study triggered by last summer’s deadly U.K. floods concludes that hundreds of U.K. power substations and water treatment plants are at risk from flooding, thus compounding and exacerbating the consequences of natural disasters
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Microbes mine trapped energy
Microbes naturally convert oil to methane over tens of millions of years; scientists find that this time scale could be shortened to a few hundred days in the laboratory by feeding the oil-based microbes with special nutrients
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More headlines
The long view
Falling Space Debris: How High Is the Risk I'll Get Hit?
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.
Using Drone Swarms to Fight Forest Fires
Forest fires are becoming increasingly catastrophic across the world, accelerated by climate change. Researchers are using multiple swarms of drones to tackle natural disasters like forest fires.
Strengthening the Grid’s ‘Backbone’ with Hydropower
Argonne-led studies investigate how hydropower could help add more clean energy to the grid, how it generates value as grids add more renewable energy, and how liner technology can improve hydropower efficiency.
LNG Exports Have Had No Impact on Domestic Energy Costs: Analysis
U.S. liquified natural gas (LNG) exports have not had any sustained and significant direct impact on U.S. natural gas prices and have, in fact, spurred production and productivity gains, which contribute to downward pressure on domestic prices.