• DISASTERS & MENTAL HEALTHRepeated Exposure to Major Disasters Has Long-Term Mental Health Impacts

    New study found Houston residents who experienced two or more hazardous events in the past five years had a reduction in mental health scores.

  • UKRAINE CRISISNord Stream 2 Will Not Move Forward If Russia Invades Ukraine

    U.S. said it would work with Germany to ensure that the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany does not begin operations if Russia invades Ukraine. Chancellor Olaf Scholz called the pipeline a “private sector project,” as did his predecessor Angela Merkel, but he has hardened his position in the past few days.

  • view counter

  • UKRAINE CRISISRussia Could Unleash Disruptive Cyberattacks Against the U.S. – but Efforts to Sow Confusion and Division Are More Likely

    By Justin Pelletier

    As tensions mount between Russia and the West over Ukraine, the threat of Russian cyberattacks against the U.S. increases. Cybersecurity experts are concerned that in the wake of recent cyberattacks by hackers affiliated with Russia, the Russian government has the capability to carry out disruptive and destructive attacks against targets in the U.S. the Russian government is likely to think twice before unleashing highly disruptive attacks against the U.S., because the U.S. government could interpret such attacks, particularly those targeting critical infrastructure, as acts of war.

  • CYBERSECURITYMoving the U.S. Government Toward a Zero-Trust Architecture

    The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a Federal strategy aiming to move the U.S. government toward a “zero trust” approach to cybersecurity. The new strategy is an important in in implementing the administration’s Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity, which focuses on advancing security measures which significantly reduce the risk of successful cyberattacks against the digital infrastructure of the federal government.

  • view counter

  • ARGUMENT: POLICE SPYWAREIsraeli Police: From Warrantless Cellphone Searches to Controversial Misuse of Spyware

    Israel’s rules governing privacy and related laws have experienced a dramatic past few weeks, capped by an explosive journalistic expose revealing that Israeli police have been using NSO Group spyware allegedly without warrants or explicit statutory authorization.

  • PANDEMICS & POLITICSSupport for Populist Politics “Collapsed” During the Pandemic: Report

    Support for populist parties and politicians, and agreement with populist sentiment, has fallen amid the pandemic, according to a “mega-dataset” taking in the attitudes of over half a million people across 109 countries.

  • view counter

  • ELECTRIC GRIDSmart Electric Grid to Power Our Future

    A novel plan that offers partnership in keeping the United States electric grid stable and reliable could be a win-win for consumers and utility operators.

  • OUR PICKSThe Case Against Masks at School | Water Sector & Cyberattacks | Anti-Vaxxers Will Believe Anything, and more

    ·  The Case Against Masks at School

    ·  American Deterrence’s Missing Half

    ·  Biden Team Promises New Approach to Extremism, but Critics See Old Patterns

    ·  UK Anti-Terror Police Make 2 More Arrests in Texas Synagogue Hostage Probe; 4 Total in Custody

    ·  Student Who Opened Fire During Lecture Linked to Neo-Nazi Party

    ·  Electric Grid Is ‘Attractive Target’ for Domestic Violent Extremists in US, Intel Brief Says

    ·  Twitter Suspended 44K Accounts for Promoting Terrorism, Violent Orgs in First Half of 2021

    ·  EPA Leading Effort to Secure the Water Sector Against Cyberattacks

    ·  The Shady Site That Shows Anti-Vaxxers Will Believe Anything

  • UKRAINE CRISISU.S. Developing Energy Contingency Plan for Europe in Case of Russia’s Cuts in Oil, Gas Exports

    By Patsy Widakuswara

    Moscow provides approximately 40 percent of Europe’s natural gas, and European energy stockpiles have been significantly lower in the past few months because of reduced Russian supplies. The Biden administration has been working with European countries and energy producers around the world on ways to supply fuel to Western European countries should Russian President Vladimir Putin slash oil and gas exports in retaliation for sanctions imposed for an invasion of Ukraine.

  • UKRAINE CRISISUkraine: Russian Hand Behind Spate of Bomb Scares at Schools Nationwide

    By Nina Bakhmach

    As tensions mount between Ukraine and Russia amid an alarming buildup of Russian forces near the border, Ukraine’s schoolchildren, their families, and their communities have already found themselves on the front line of what Kyiv’s intelligence service, the SBU, describes as a “hybrid war.”

  • DISEASE FORECASRSCompetition and Collaboration: Understanding Interacting Epidemics Can Unlock Better Disease Forecasts

    By Andrey Lokhov

    A new algorithm increases scientists’ abilities to accurately model mutually dependent spreading processes, from virus outbreaks to disinformation on social media.

  • AIRPORT SECURITYOpening Architecture to Make Air Travel Safer, Easier

    By J. C. Ross

    Researchers have developed an open architecture for airport screening systems, which will allow air travelers to experience faster and safer security checkpoints — no need to open bags or remove liquids or shoes.

  • NUCLEAR WASTEEnsuring Safe Nuclear Waste Disposal

    Disposal concepts call for the waste to be isolated a third of a mile belowground for safe storage, enclosed within engineered barrier systems and surrounded by subsurface rock. But there’s still the chance radionuclides might leak out if these systems lose their protective properties as it heats up due to radioactive decay. International nuclear waste disposal research effort evaluates maximum allowable temperature for buffer material.

  • WILDFIRESNew Federal Wildfire Plan Is Ambitious – but the Forest Service Needs More Money and People to Fight the Growing Risks

    By Ryan E. Tompkins and Susan Kocher

    As foresters who have been working on wildfire and forest restoration issues in the Sierra Nevada for over a quarter of a century, the main lesson we gather from how wildfires have burned is that fuels reduction and forest restoration projects are our best tools for mitigating wildfire impacts amid a changing climate, and not nearly enough of them are being done.

  • OUR PICKSThe Pandemic of Unknowns | Cybersecurity & Smart Buildings | DHS & Disinformation Threat, and more

    ·  The Pandemic of Unknowns

    ·  Whisper It, but Putin Has a Point in Ukraine

    ·  DHS: Extremists Continue to Plot, Encourage Physical Attacks on Electricity Infrastructure

    ·  More Federal Coordination Needed to Tackle U.S. Domestic Extremism

    ·  Democrats in Congress Seek Review of Teams Within the Border Patrol

    ·  Hidden Cybersecurity Challenges of Smart Buildings

    ·  The Role for DHS in Countering the Disinformation Threat

  • UKRAINE CRISISPutin “Playing Poker Rather Than Chess”: Former U.K. Spy Chief

    By Jamie Dettmer

    In an interview Tuesday with the BBC, former head of Britain’s MI6 external intelligence agency, Alex Younger, said he cannot see how the Russian leader can back down as fears mount that Putin is poised to order a Russian invasion of Ukraine, a former Soviet republic.

  • UKRAINE CRISISWhy NATO Has Become a Flash Point with Russia in Ukraine

    By Jonathan Masters

    Russian leaders have watched with mounting resentment as the transatlantic alliance has nearly doubled its membership since the end of the Cold War. President Vladimir Putin has drawn a red line in Ukraine.

  • UKRAINE CRISISHow Long Could Ukraine Hold Out Against a Russian Invasion?

    By Mike Eckel

    A RAND report from last year and more recent military analyses have examined Russian operational tactics, but far fewer have looked at the other side of the coin: How long could Ukraine’s armed forces hold out against a bigger, more powerful military force like Russia’s?

  • PUBLIC HEALTHAntimicrobial Resistance Far Deadlier Than Thought

    By Chris Dall

    In the largest and most comprehensive study to date on the global burden of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), an international team of researchers estimates that more than 1.2 million people died from drug-resistant infections in 2019.

  • MICROCHIPSAddressing the Microchip Shortage

    The U.S. semiconductor chip shortage is likely to continue well into 2022, and experts predict that the U.S. will need to make major changes to the manufacturing and supply chain of these all-important chips in the coming year to stave off further effects. That includes making more of these chips here at home. 

  • AVIATION SECURITYHow 5G Puts Airplanes at Risk – an Electrical Engineer Explains

    By Prasenjit Mitra

    In 2021 the U.S. government auctioned part of the C-band spectrum to wireless carriers in 2021 for $81 billion. The carriers are using C-band spectrum to provide 5G service at full speed, 10 times the speed of 4G networks. The C-band spectrum is close to the frequencies used by key electronics that aircraft rely on to land safely. Here’s why that can be a problem.

  • DISASTER PREPAREDNESSFEMA May Be Challenged by Catastrophic Disasters: GAO

    GAO says that its past examination of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA), covering the period July 2015- August 2021, has identified longstanding challenges facing the agency’s workforce. These challenges will become even more acute as the climate change increases the frequency and intensity of natural disasters.