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EPIDEMICDid Sweden’s Controversial COVID Strategy Pay Off? In Many Ways It Did – but It Let the Elderly Down
Sweden’s approach to COVID was controversial, with some calling it “the Swedish experiment.” But almost two-and-a-half years after the pandemic began, what can we say today about the outcomes of this “experiment”?
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ENERGY SECURITYHow the U.S. Oil and Gas Industry Works
The United States is the world’s top producer of oil and natural gas. The country’s economy runs on these fossil fuels, but producing and burning them releases greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. Russia’s war in Ukraine stoked the debate over whether the United States should boost production to strengthen U.S. and European energy independence or reduce production, improve efficiency, and transition to renewables. The U.S. decision to either continue at the current pace of oil and gas production or curb production to achieve its climate goals will have global consequences.
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HEAT WAVESMore Than 107M Americans Will Soon Live inside an Emerging “Extreme Heat Belt” with Temperatures above 125 F
Fifty U.S. counties, home to 8.1 million residents, are expected to experience temperatures above 125°F in 2023, the highest level of the National Weather Services’ heat index. By 2053, 1,023 U.S. counties are expected to exceed this temperature, an area that is home to 107.6 million Americans and covers a quarter of the U.S. land area.
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CYBERSECURITYThinking Like a Cyber-Attacker to Protect User Data
Researchers found that an understudied component of computer processors is susceptible to attacks from malicious agents. Then, they developed mitigation mechanisms.
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EPIDEMICSNew Test May Predict Covid-19 Immunity
The paper test measures the level of neutralizing antibodies in a blood sample and could help people decide what protections they should take against infection.
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CLOAK & DAGGERU.S. Charges Iranian Operative with Plotting to Kill John Bolton
The U.S. Justice Department has charged a member of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in connection with an alleged plot to kill former White House national-security adviser John Bolton.
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DISASTERSPrediction of Human Movement During Disasters Allows More Effective Emergency Response
The COVID-19 pandemic, bigger and more frequent wildfires, devastating floods, and powerful storms have become facts of life. With each disaster, people depend on the emergency response of governments, nonprofit organizations, and the private sector for aid when their lives are upended. But there is a complicating factor: people tend to disperse with such disasters, making aid delivery more difficult.
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DISASTERSWealthiest Homeowners Most at Risk of Wildfire Hazard
The top 10 cent most valuable homes in the western United States are 70% more likely to be in high wildfire hazard areas than median-value properties, measured by county.
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CRITICAL MINERALSCalifornia Mining Firms Seek to Clean Up Lithium's Production Footprint
Three large mining projects based in California’s “Lithium Valley” aim to recover lithium with minimal environmental impacts. They have the potential to simplify the global lithium supply chain.
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ENERGY SECURITYPlanning Climate-Smart Power Systems
Unprecedented heat waves, storms, and wildfires are pushing electrical grids in the United States to their limits. An energy scientist and a climate scientist discuss how utilities can plan for a resilient electrical grid in the face of an uncertain climate future.
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OUR PICKSU.S. Goals in Cyberspace | COVID & Bioterrorism | Chinese Investment in American Agriculture, and more
· Anti-Government Extremism ‘Has Really Surged’ Since 2020, Wray Tells Senators
· U.S. Is Urgently Seeking a Country to Resettle a Qaeda Informant
· Islamic Terrorists ‘Refuse to Be Deradicalized in Prison’
· Facebook Bans Hate Speech but Still Makes Money from White Supremacists
· Reflecting Upon Two CFR Reports on U.S. Goals in Cyberspace
· DHS IG Cuffari’s Actions Exhibit Clear Pattern: Unwillingness or Inability to Meet the Mission
· The Growing Concern Over Chinese Investment in American Agriculture
· Why COVID Probably Hasn’t Helped Bioterrorists, Despite Fears
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PRESIDENTIAL PAPERSWhy Presidential Papers Don't Belong to Presidents
The Presidential Records Act (PRA) of 1978 established that all presidential records are owned by the public and automatically transfer into the custody of the National Archives as soon as a commander-in-chief leaves office. The PRA was passed after President Richard Nixon, in 1973-1974, during the Watergate scandal, fought to destroy White House records, including secret tape recordings, in order to conceal criminal activity by himself and his staff. Nixon argued that the White House records were his private property to do with them what he wanted.
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ARGUMENT: WAVES OF TERRORISMA Century-and-a-Half Look at the Waves of Global Terrorism
Twenty years ago, a 15-page article – “The Four Waves of Rebel Terrorism and September 11” — by terrorism expert David Rapoport helped students of terrorism place the 9/11 attacks in perspective. Rapoport has now published a 440-page book on the topic, and Tim Wilson writes that “[Rapoport’s] provocative sketch of how global terrorism emerged has continued to hold the field since the immediate aftermath of 9/11. And this new volume allows him to present it in fuller, and richer, brush-strokes.”
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TECH & THE LAWBrain-Monitoring Tech Advances Could Change the Law
There is an ankle-bracelet for offenders. What about a brain-bracelet? A new reportscrutinizes advances in neurotechnology and what it might mean for the law and the legal profession.
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VIOLENCEExperts Shed Light on Preventing Violence
As the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at CU Boulder turns 30, its founder and current director share thoughts on the center’s legacy.
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FOOD SECURITYRise of Precision Agriculture Exposes Food System to New Threats
Farmers are adopting precision agriculture, using data collected by GPS, satellite imagery, internet-connected sensors and other technologies to farm more efficiently. These practices could help increase crop yields and reduce costs, but the technology behind the practices is creating opportunities for extremists, terrorists and adversarial governments to attack farming machinery, with the aim of disrupting food production.
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CLIMATE CHALLENGESGrowing the Impacts of Climate-Smart Agriculture
A range of ‘climate-smart’ farming practices have the potential to lower that impact, and also help sequester carbon dioxide emitted by other parts of the economy. For example, planting cover crops in between plantings of cash crops can absorb CO2 into the soil, among other benefits. However, cover crops and other climate-smart practices aren’t yet the norm.
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OUR PICKS'Remain in Mexico' Policy is Over | Solution to Hate Speech on the Internet | Agriculture and Veterinary Defense, and more
· Biden Administration Says ‘Remain in Mexico’ Policy is Over
· Ex-Rebel Takes Oath as Colombia President in Historic Shift
· DHS S&T Seeks Information on Scientific Capabilities for Food, Agriculture and Veterinary Defense
· Banning Content Platforms is Not a Solution to Hate Speech on the Internet, Even When the Platform is Meta
· Terrorist Kept in Prison Because U.K. Home Office Plan to Deport Him Causes ‘Risk to Public’
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IRAN’S NUKESU.S. Ready to Conclude Iran Nuclear Deal Based on EU's 'Final Draft'
The United States is ready to “quickly conclude a deal” to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement on the basis of proposals put forward on August 8 by the European Union, a State Department spokesperson said.
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IRAN’S NUKESIran’s Latest Advanced Centrifuge Deployment
Iran just announced that it has recently installed or plans to install in the near term almost 1570 new advanced centrifuges. This represents a 70 percent increase from the number of advanced centrifuges installed as of last May. Iran’s announcement puts it well on its way to achieving about 4450 installed advanced centrifuges at all three enrichment plants by the end of 2022.
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TERRORISMDo Targeted Killings Weaken Terrorist Groups?
Targeted operations by U.S. forces have eliminated notorious leaders of armed extremist groups, al-Qaeda’s Ayman al-Zawahiri the latest among them. But how much they disrupt these terrorist organizations is questionable.
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CYBERSECURITYNSF Grants to Protect Data, User privacy
Researchers are working on two new cybersecurity projects, recently funded by the National Science Foundation, to ensure trustworthy cloud computing and increase computing privacy for marginalized and vulnerable populations.
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More headlines
The long view
TRUTH DECAYBeliefs in Conspiracy Theories May Not Be Increasing
A new analysis contradicts popular thinking about beliefs in conspiracy theories, suggesting that such beliefs may not have actually increased over time. The new findings challenge widespread perceptions by the public, scholars, journalists, and policymakers.
EXTREMISMU.K. Parliamentary Report: “Threat from Extreme Right-Wing Terrorism on an Upward Trajectory”
“The threat from Extreme Right-Wing Terrorism is on an upward trajectory, populated by an increasing number of young people and driven by the internet,” said Julian Lewis, MP, the chairman of the U.K. Parliament Intelligence and Security Committee. The committee has just released a detailed report on the threat of terrorism in the United Kingdom.
EXTREMISMNew Tool Helps Distinguish Different Psychological Traits of Violent Extremists
Researchers have developed and validated a new tool known as the Extremist Archetypes Scale to help distinguish different psychological traits found among people engaged in violent extremism. Dimensions of extremist archetypes include “adventurer”, “drifter” and “misfit”, among others.
TRUTH DECAYTechnology Can Detect Fake News in Videos
Social media represent a major channel for the spreading of fake news and disinformation. This situation has been made worse with recent advances in photo and video editing and artificial intelligence tools, which make it easy to tamper with audiovisual files, for example with so-called deepfakes, which combine and superimpose images, audio and video clips to create montages that look like real footage.
PANDEMICSDuring Pandemic: More News, More Worry
Anxiety and fear went hand in hand with trying to learn more about COVID-19 in the early days of the pandemic in the United States — and the most distressed people were turning on the television and scrolling through social media.
DISINFORMATIONThese Red Flags Can Let You Know When You’re in an Online Echo Chamber
Online echo chambers are virtual spaces that gather like-minded individuals. Research has shown that people are more likely to believe and share information they encounter in these spaces, because it confirms their existing beliefs. Somesocial media users who routinely engage in this style of communication also spread disinformation.
ENCRYPTIONSolution to Encrypted Messages Being Hacked Before Sending or After Receipt
Message applications must do more to keep user data safe from undetected malware or over-the-shoulder eavesdropping that bypasses encryption before a message has been sent. Researchers have created a new end-to-end encryption mechanism that protects users’ communications at a far higher level than currently experienced on popular applications.
DUAL-USE RESEARCHStrengthening U.S. Government’s Enhanced Potential Pandemic Pathogen Framework, Dual Use Research
Group of scientists, public health experts, policy researchers propose strengthening of U.S. government’s policies regarding enhanced potential pandemic pathogen framework and dual use research of concern.
GUNSRise in Firearm Homicides Mostly Hit South-Central and Midwest States
A rise in U.S. firearm homicides in recent years has primarily affected states in the South-Central and Midwest portion of the nation, as well as disproportionately affecting people who are American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Black. While overall rates of racial and geographic disparities in firearm homicides declined in previous decades, the recent spike in firearm killings has reversed that improvement, worsening long-existing disparities.
AIRPORT SECURITYD.B. Cooper, the Changing Nature of Hijackings and the Foundation for Today’s Airport Security
Many Americans may associate airport security with 9/11, but it was a wave of hijackings in the late 1960s and early 1970s that laid the foundation for today’s airport security protocols. Especially, the 24 November 1971 hijacking of a Northwest Orient 727 plane, after take-off from Portland, Oregon, by a man known to the American public as D. B. Cooper, captured the public’s imagination, and drove the U.S. government to establish the first anti-hijacking security protocols.
LAW RNFORCEMENTUpdated Software Reference Library Will Aid in Criminal Investigations
A recent update to a publicly downloadable database maintained by NIST will make it easier to sift through computers, cellphones and other electronic equipment seized in police raids, potentially helping law enforcement catch sexual predators and other criminals.
WATER SECURITYWater Resources to Become Less Predictable with Climate Change
Many regions of Earth rely on the accumulation of snow during the winter and subsequent melting in the spring and summer for regulating runoff and streamflow. Water resources will fluctuate increasingly and become more and more difficult to predict in snow-dominated regions across the Northern Hemisphere.
FloodsWarning System for Dangerous Heavy Rain and Flash Floods
In recent years, there have been repeated flash floods in Germany, some with devastating effects, which have been triggered by localized heavy rainfall. New project aims to provide prototypical warnings at different spatial scales, from the whole of Germany to individual federal states and down to the municipal level.
ENERGY SECURITYGenerating Power at the Point Where Seawater, River Water Meet
It is theoretically possible to generate electricity through the movement of water in locations where seawater and river water meet. This type of technology is called osmotic power generation or blue energy. Though prototypes of this technology have been built, research is still underway to prove that this technology is scalable and reliable.
DISASTERSWhen Disaster Strikes, Some Americans May Not Be Ready
Study identifies the ‘socially vulnerable’ who aren’t prepared: Researchers found that households led by women, those with children under age 18, renters, those of low socioeconomic status, African Americans and Asians were all less likely than others to be at least minimally prepared for disasters.
COASTAL CHALLENGESProtecting the Coastline
Barrier islands protect the coastline from storms, storm surge, waves and flooding. They can act as a buffer between the ocean and beachfront property. But as sea level rises, barrier islands retreat, or move closer toward the shore, which diminishes the buffer and protection. Oceanographers develop new model to better predict barrier island retreat.
