• A “cauldron of events” has brought the nuclear industry to a halt

    Until two years ago, people talked of a nuclear energy renaissance. Now the talk is about nuclear malaise. The Fukushima scare, the emergence of alternative energy sources as a result of fracking, and the lack of action on climate change – which means that limits on fossil fuels are not coming any time soon – have, in the words of one experts, brought the nuclear industry to a halt.

  • Increasing supplies of North American oil changing global markets

    The supply shock created by a surge in North American oil production will be as transformative to the market over the next five years as was the rise of Chinese demand over the last fifteen, a new report says. The shift will not only cause oil companies to overhaul their global investment strategies, but also reshape the way oil is transported, stored, and refined.

  • Bird flu in live poultry markets source of viruses causing human infections

    Following analysis of H7N9 influenza viruses collected from live poultry markets in China, it was found that these viruses circulating among birds were responsible for human infections. These results provide a basis for the government to take actions for controlling this public health threat.

  • U.S. considering revamping wiretap laws

    The White House is reviewing an FBI plan to overhaul surveillance laws in order to make it easier for law enforcement officials to wiretap citizens using the Internet to communicate rather than phone services.

  • Illnesses in U.S. on the rise as a result of decline in foreign food inspections

    More Americans get sick every year as a result of food-borne pathogens. The reason: inspections at foreign food factories shipping food and food ingredients to the United States have declined in recent years, and border inspections of food coming into the country could be next to be reduced. Experts say this decline in inspections is especially worrisome since Americans consume more imported food – or food made with imported ingredients – every year, and foreign food production and processing facilities often do not meet U.S. sanitation and hygiene standards.

  • Small, medium businesses suffer record levels of cyber attacks

    More small businesses than ever are facing the threat of losing confidential information through cyberattacks, according to research published today by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

    The 2013 Information Security Breaches Survey has shown that 87 percent of small businesses across all sectors of the U.K. economy experienced a breach in the last year. This is up more than 10 percent and cost small businesses up to 6 percent of their turnover, when they could protect themselves for far less.

  • Silica particles purify water by acting as oil magnets

    Engineers develop an innovative method designed to purify water through the rapid removal of oily pollutants. The technology involves the deployment of surface engineered silica particles, which act as oil magnets in water, adsorbing oil, yet repelling water.

  • U.S.: China orchestrating broad cyberattack campaign against U.S.

    The Obama administration accused China’s military of orchestrating a campaign of cyberattacks against American government computer systems and defense contractors for the purpose of identifying “military capabilities that could be exploited during a crisis.” Cyber experts estimate that about 90 percent of all cyberattacks in the United States originate in China, but these estimates have typically been offered by private-sector experts. The Pentagon’s annual report to Congress, released Monday, is the first government document specifically and explicitly to assert that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is behind a sustained, systematic campaign of cyberattacks on the United States in an effort to gain a strategic advantage over the United States. The report also pointedly notes that Chinese investments in U.S. companies aim to help this cyberattacks campaign.

  • GOP opponents of the immigration bill gearing up for a campaign to kill it

    Republicans opposed to the bi-partisan Senate immigration bill are getting set to launch a campaign to defeat the bill, as the Senate Judiciary Committee begins a review on the bill Thursday. The committee is expected to spend at least three weeks on the bill, with GOP lawmakers opposing the bill ready to offer hundreds of amendments — some in an effort to make the bill more acceptable to them, others in an effort to kill it.

  • Privacy, cost concerns check drive for more surveillance cameras

    Law enforcement agencies in cities across the United States are campaigning to increase surveillance on city streets, impressed with the effectiveness of video surveillance in helping the Boston Police identify the two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings. This campaign to expand law enforcement’s surveillance power is likely to run into stiff opposition, as Americans have proven suspicious of allowing the government powers which would infringe on privacy. Expanding surveillance networks also costs money, and these are tight budgetary times.

  • FAA oversight of jetliner repair stations is ineffective

    The FAA oversees 4,800 jetliner repair stations worldwide – in countries such as China, New Zealand, Peru, and Singapore – where American commercial airplanes are being repaired. The Federal Aviation Administration’s own watchdog organization reported that the oversight of U.S. jetliner repair stations is ineffective and does not focus on stations which are most likely to present security risks.

  • The cost for universal access to energy

    Universal access to modern energy could be achieved with an investment of between $65 and $86 billion a year up until 2030, new research has shown. The proposed investments are higher than previous estimates but equate to just 3-4 percent of current investments in the global energy system.

  • Governments, businesses should be “cyber-risk intelligent”

    Cyber-threats must require governments and businesses to be “cyber-risk intelligent.” Three general flows of information determine an organizational frame for cyber-risk intelligence: one that encompasses the awareness of the IT enterprise and its apparent health; a second that brings internal business activities into view; and a third that encompasses broader geopolitical and economic forces.

  • Ash from olive residue biomass leads to more effective, cheaper concrete

    Researchers have produced self-compacting concrete with ash from boiler combustion of olive pruning residue pellets. The plasticity and cohesion of this type of concrete mean no compaction is needed when used in construction and, moreover, it has other advantages with respect to conventional concrete.

  • Central Washington State proposed for a UAV research and testing site

    The FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 enacted by Congress calls for establishing six unmanned aircraft system research and testing sites in the United States. A consortium of Washington State-based organizations will soon submit the final section of a proposal to site an unmanned aircraft system research and testing facility in central Washington. If successful, the proposal to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will result in the FAA naming the Pacific Northwest Unmanned Aerial Systems Flight Center as one of six U.S. testing facilities later this year.