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Hurricane Helene Could Cost $200 Billion. Nobody Knows Where the Money Will Come From.
Even as the full scale of devastation in the mountainous regions of North Carolina and Tennessee remains unknown, it’s clear that Hurricane Helene is one of the deadliest and most destructive storms in recent U.S. history. Almost none of the storm’s devastation will be paid out by insurance.
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Counties Call for Rural Groundwater Management Despite Some Voters Rejecting It
Four rural Arizona county supervisors are asking for more regulation when it comes to pumping rural groundwater, something that their constituents denied them in 2022.
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You’d Never Fall for an Online Scam, Right?
Wrong, says cybersecurity expert. Con artists use time-tested tricks that can work on anyone regardless of age, IQ — what’s changed is scale.
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Remotely Exploding Pagers Highlight Supply Chain Risks
The attacks against Hezbollah using weaponized pagers and walkie talkies serve as a stark reminder of the dangers of compromised supply chains and why Australia must secure its own against the threats from China.
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Work Toward a Cleaner Way to Purify Critical Metals
Rare-earth elements are everywhere in modern life. However, purifying these critical metals from ores with complex mixtures is a nasty business involving strong acids and hazardous solvents, and is primarily conducted in China. Sandia team studies selective sponges for rare-earth elements.
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Blocking the Nippon Steel Acquisition: Politics Versus Policy
A decision by President Biden to block Nippon Steel’s purchase of U.S. Steel would not be good policy or good politics.
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Under Both Trump and Biden-Harris, U.S. Oil and Gas Production Surged to Record Highs, Despite Very Different Energy Goals
Under each of the three most recent presidencies, Republican and Democratic alike, U.S. oil and gas production was higher at the end of the administration’s term than at the beginning. Presidents’ actions can matter for the industry’s future, but the major factors in U.S. oil and gas production so far have been increased production efficiency, increased global demand and the lower cost of natural gas compared with coal.
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An AI Lie Detector for Today’s Deepfake World
Revealense recognizes indicators from video clips that help client companies know if a customer is being truthful or not. For an AI lie detector, what matters more than the answers to questions are the levels of stress, cognition and emotion that the AI detects. The AI is trained to recognize cognitive dissonance, the discomfort we feel when we hold — and when we verbalize — conflicting beliefs, values or attitudes.
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The Accelerationists’ App: How Telegram Became the “Center of Gravity” for a New Breed of Domestic Terrorists
From attempting to incite racially motivated violence to encouraging attacks on critical infrastructure, the alleged crimes planned and advertised by extremists on Telegram go far beyond the charges facing CEO Pavel Durov.
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Getting Economic Security Right
National security policymakers are understandably worried about economic risks, but they shouldn’t lose sight of other national interests.
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The Country’s Biggest Ghost Gun Manufacturer Has Shuttered
As its products increasingly turned up at crime scenes, Polymer80 drew scrutiny from law enforcement and policymakers.
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Defense Department Should Secure Access to Advanced Semiconductor Technologies
A new, multipronged strategy is needed for the U.S. Department of Defense to secure access to advanced semiconductor technologies, one of the agency’s defining challenges, says a new report. DOD should invest in leap-ahead semiconductor technologies, work to reshore production capabilities, and strengthen industry and interagency engagement, says a new report.
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New Method Developed to Detect Fake Vaccines in Supply Chains
The global population is increasingly reliant on vaccines to maintain population health with billions of doses used annually in immunization programs worldwide. The vast majority of vaccines are of excellent quality. However, a rise in substandard and falsified vaccines threaten global public health. Unfortunately, there is currently no global infrastructure in place to monitor supply chains using screening methods developed to identify ineffective vaccines.
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Computer Scientists Discover Vulnerabilities in a Popular Security Protocol
A widely used security protocol that dates back to the days of dial-up Internet has vulnerabilities that could expose large numbers of networked devices to an attack and allow an attacker to gain control of traffic on an organization’s network.
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Conspiracy, Fake News, Crime: Why Is Telegram Controversial?
Telegram has been used by all sides in Russia, both pro-and anti-government groups. The arrest of CEO Pavel Durov in Paris has left Russia’s opposition worried. But the messaging app is well known for its drawbacks.
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The long view
Need for National Information Clearinghouse for Cybercrime Data, Categorization of Cybercrimes: Report
There is an acute need for the U.S. to address its lack of overall governance and coordination of cybercrime statistics. A new report recommends that relevant federal agencies create or designate a national information clearinghouse to draw information from multiple sources of cybercrime data and establish connections to assist in criminal investigations.
Trying to “Bring Back” Manufacturing Jobs Is a Fool’s Errand
Advocates of recent populist policies like to focus on the supposed demise of manufacturing that occurred after the 1970s, but that focus is misleading. The populists’ bleak economic narrative ignores the truth that the service sector has always been a major driver of America’s success, for decades, even more so than manufacturing. Trying to “bring back” manufacturing jobs, through harmful tariffs or other industrial policies, is destined to end badly for Americans. It makes about as much sense as trying to “bring back” all those farm jobs we had before the 1870s.
The Potential Impact of Seabed Mining on Critical Mineral Supply Chains and Global Geopolitics
The potential emergence of a seabed mining industry has important ramifications for the diversification of critical mineral supply chains, revenues for developing nations with substantial terrestrial mining sectors, and global geopolitics.
Are We Ready for a ‘DeepSeek for Bioweapons’?
Anthropic’s Claude 4 is a warning sign: AI that can help build bioweapons is coming, and could be widely available soon. Steven Adler writes that we need to be prepared for the consequences: “like a freely downloadable ‘DeepSeek for bioweapons,’ available across the internet, loadable to the computer of any amateur scientist who wishes to cause mass harm. With Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4 having finally triggered this level of safety risk, the clock is now ticking.”