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A Guide to the 4 Minerals Shaping the World’s Energy Future
Ending our dependence on fossil fuels and adopting this new, greener technology requires a whole lot of metal. Especially important are rare earth elements and lithium, cobalt, nickel, and copper. Just as the 20th century was defined by the geography of oil, the 21st century could be defined by the new geography of metal.
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For-Profit Immigration Detention Expands as Trump Accelerates His Deportation Plans
The Trump administration is moving quickly to dramatically expand the nation’s capacity for detaining immigrants who do not have legal authorization to be in the United States. States may not be able to limit or block new contracts with private companies.
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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.
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In Trade War with the U.S., China Holds a Lot More Cards Than Trump May Think − in Fact, It Might Have a Winning Hand
While Trump’s tariffs will inevitably hurt parts of the Chinese economy, Beijing appears to have far more cards to play this time around, compared to the tariff conflict between the two countries during Trump’s first term in the White Houser. It has the tools to inflict meaningful damage on U.S. interests – and perhaps more importantly, Trump’s all-out tariff war is providing China with a rare and unprecedented strategic opportunity.
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Trump Thinks Tariffs Can Bring Back the Glory Days of U.S. Manufacturing. Here’s Why He’s Wrong
Trump’s “liberation day” tariffshave one thing in common – they are being applied to goods only.They are the perfect example of Trump’s peculiar focus on trade in goods and, by extension, his nostalgic but outdated obsession with manufacturing.Trump’s thinking is likely related to a combination of nostalgia for a bygone (somewhat imagined) age of manufacturing,and concern over the loss of quality jobs that provide a solid standard of living for blue collar workers – a core part of his political base.But nostalgia is not a sensible basis for forming economic policy.
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Israeli Startup Raises $50m to Stop App-Based Cyberattacks
Oligo Security’s platform allows for quick identification of vulnerabilities in cloud-native software before they are exploited by third parties.
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The Trade Deficit Isn’t an Emergency – It’s a Sign of America’s Strength
A trade deficit is often viewed as a problem. And yes, the U.S. trade deficit is both large and persistent. But far from a national emergency, this persistent deficit is actually a sign of America’s financial and technological dominance. Trump’s extreme tariffs, rather than reviving U.S. manufacturing, will erode the very pillars of the country’s economic dominance, at a steep cost to American firms and families.
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Why Was Russia Spared from Trump’s Tariffs?
Import tariffs, which President Donald Trump slapped on about 90 countries on 2 April, had some surprise omissions. One of them has turned out be Russia, which made many wonder why. Trump’s decision to spare Russia has not been lost on Russia’s ruling elite. Some top members of that elite could not help gloating over how some of America’s traditional allies were reeling from Trump’s tariffs, while Russia was untouched.
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Squeezing More Out of Used Nuclear Fuel and Rare Earth Materials
Rotating packed bed contactor technology may be safe, scalable solution that helps the U.S. expand the potential of nuclear energy. The impact of the research may extend beyond nuclear fuel recycling to applications in other metal recovery processes such as rare earth recovery.
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The Trump Administration Says Tren de Aragua Is a Terrorist Group – but It’s Really a Transnational Criminal Organization. Here’s Why the Label Matters.
The U.S. declared the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, as well as some Mexican drug cartels, as foreign terrorist organizations. But classifying Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization has sparked debate among observers: Tren de Aragua is primarily a profit-driven group, not an ideological one –placing the organization more firmly in the transnational organized crime category rather than a political terrorist group.
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Former SPFPA’s Official Pleads Guilty to Illegal Labor Payments
A Florida couple pled guilty earlier this week to conspiracy to provide and receive prohibited labor payments. The husband, Ricky Dallas O’Quinn, served as both an officer and employee of International Union, Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America (SPFPA), a labor organization which represents protective security officers at federal workplaces.
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Standardized Security Playbooks Improve Protection Against Cyberattacks
Each company relies on its own security concepts and devises its playbooks individually. This means hardly any security-related information is shared between these organizations. And that is a problem, especially when business partners regularly exchange data, as is the case with industrial firms and their suppliers.
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Store, Harvest, Fix: How Texas Can Save Its Water Supply
State lawmakers are poised to devote billions to save the state’s water supply. These are some of the ways the state could spend the money.
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The Siege of the Red Sea
With the degradation of Hamas and Hezbollah, the Houthis stand out as one of Iran’s proxies that continues to pose a serious threat to U.S. interests in the region. But with Iran on its back foot and Trump’s determination to bring the full capabilities of the U.S. military to bear against the Houthis, the group’s days running roughshod in the Red Sea may be numbered.
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Debate Over H-1B Visas Shines Spotlight on U.S. Tech Worker Shortages
The debate over H-1B overlooks some important questions: Why does the U.S. rely so heavily on foreign workers for the tech industry, and why is it not able to develop a homegrown tech workforce?
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The long view
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.”
A Brief History of Federal Funding for Basic Science
Biomedical science in the United States is at a crossroads. For 75 years, the federal government has partnered with academic institutions, fueling discoveries that have transformed medicine and saved lives. Recent moves by the Trump administration — including funding cuts and proposed changes to how research support is allocated — now threaten this legacy.
Bookshelf: Preserving the U.S. Technological Republic
The United States since its founding has always been a technological republic, one whose place in the world has been made possible and advanced by its capacity for innovation. But our present advantage cannot be taken for granted.
Critical Minerals Don’t Belong in Landfills – Microwave Tech Offers a Cleaner Way to Reclaim Them from E-waste
E-waste recycling focuses on retrieving steel, copper, aluminum, but ignores tiny specks of critical materials. Once technology becomes available to recover these tiny but valuable specks of critical materials quickly and affordably, the U.S. can transform domestic recycling and take a big step toward solving its shortage of critical materials.
Microbes That Extract Rare Earth Elements Also Can Capture Carbon
A small but mighty microbe can safely extract the rare earth and other critical elements for building everything from satellites to solar panels – and it has another superpower: capturing carbon dioxide.