OUR PICKSCOVID-19 Emergency Declarations to End | A Long Way from Nuclear Fusion | Violent Police Culture, and more

Biden to End COVID-19 Emergency Declarations on May 11  (Associated Press / VOA News)
President Joe Biden informed Congress on Monday that he will end the twin national emergencies for addressing COVID-19 on May 11, as most of the world has returned closer to normalcy nearly three years after they were first declared.
The move to end the national emergency and public health emergency declarations would formally restructure the federal coronavirus response to treat the virus as an endemic threat to public health that can be managed through agencies’ normal authorities.

A Long Way from Nuclear Fusion  (Mariana Mazzucato, Foreign Affairs)
The nuclear fusion community ended 2022 with a bang, when scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California reported that they had created a reaction that produced more energy than it consumed. This breakthrough, known as a fusion ignition, was hailed as a historic advance, a critical step on the road to generating limitless clean energy by replicating the reactions that power the sun. Following the announcement, commentators immediately began to speculate about how close scientists are to achieving that long-held dream. But any claims about the start of the next clean energy revolution must be regarded sceptically.
In part, this is because when the energy-intensive lasers that produced the reaction are also accounted for, the total energy used in the experiment was much more than it created. Additionally, to turn this kind of fusion reaction into an actual power source, the same effect would have to be replicated at a much higher frequency—more like several times a second rather than once a day. The reality is that fusion energy is nowhere near ready for commercial use. Nor will it be, until a successful innovation strategy for nuclear fusion is devised.
That a scientific breakthrough of this size was made by a state-funded laboratory is nothing new—most energy advances in the last decade have been. This is because the energy sector is reliant on public funding. Since technological advances in electricity generation are capital intensive, risky, and hard to patent, the private sector often shies away from investing in research early on. Nuclear fusion has suffered from this lack of investment, leaving governments as its biggest backers.

Risks and Threats for 2023: The Nation’s Homeland Security Leaders Speak  (HSToday)
From terrorism to natural disasters and beyond, Homeland Security Today writers and editorial board members reflect on the road ahead.

America’s First Responders Give NIST Their Communications Tech Wish Lists  (NIST)
NIST’s nationwide survey aims to improve communications devices for fire, police, EMT and 911 crews.

The Myth Propelling America’s Violent Police Culture  (Sue Rahr, The Atlantic)
I worked in law enforcement for decades. Officers who see themselves as noble heroes can be the ones who do the most harm.