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South Korea Has Acted Decisively on DeepSeek. Other Countries Must Stop Hesitating
South Korea has suspended new downloads of DeepSeek, and it was right to do so. Chinese tech firms operate under the shadow of state influence, misusing data for surveillance and geopolitical advantage. Any country that values its data and sovereignty must watch this national security threat and take note of South Korea’s response.
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Droughts Are Getting Worse. Is Fog-Farming a Fix?
Tapping low-hanging clouds could be a cheap way to boost dwindling water supplies, according to new research.
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The Push to Restore Semiconductor Manufacturing Faces a Labor Crisis − Can the U.S. Train Enough Workers in Time?
Semiconductors power nearly every aspect of modern life.The U.S. depends heavily on foreign countries – including China, a geopolitical rival – to manufacture semiconductors. This isn’t just an economic concern; it’s widely recognized as a national security risk. There is a bipartisan support to expanding domestic chip manufacturingby building new chip plants, but a major challenge remains: Who will operate them?
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Industry-Backed Legislation Would Bar the Use of Science Behind Hundreds of Environmental Protections
Two bills in Congress would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from using hundreds of chemical assessments completed by its IRIS program in environmental regulations or enforcement.
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To Avoid a Ukraine-Style Quid Pro Quo, Australia Needs to Work with the U.S. on Critical Minerals
With Donald Trump back in the White House, Washington is operating under a hard-nosed, transactional framework in which immediate returns rather than shared values measure alliances. For Australia, this signals a need to rethink its approach to the US relationship. A key step would be to work with the United States in the extraction and processing of Australian critical minerals.
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Why a U.S. Minerals Deal with Ukraine Won’t Deter Russian Aggression
Research suggests that investments follow alliances. But markets do not care about agreements alone. They respond to other signals too, like explicit statements of support. These statements of support also help to reassure allies and deter rivals. Unless Trump changes how he operates on the international stage, the economics of the mineral deal will not help Ukraine’s security situation.
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The Value of Ukraine’s Critical Minerals Is Overstated
In fact, Ukraine has no proven rare earths reserves—as distinct from deposits, which may or may not be economically recoverable. Its only established rare earths deposit, of unknown size or quality, is near Azov, a town currently under Russian control.
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In Case We Forgot, Typhoon Attacks Remind Us of China’s Cyber Capability—and Intent
The Salt Typhoon incident reminds us that China has the intent, and increasingly the capability, to seriously challenge US and Western technology advantage.
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Research Drives Innovation in Gen-IV Reactor Safety and Efficiency
All U.S. nuclear reactors, which currently provide more than half of the nation’s carbon-free power, are first- or second-generation light water reactors. This means they use water as both a coolant and neutron moderator to control the nuclear reaction and produce useful electricity. Ut researchers pursue all kinds of reactor designs, and nuclear engineers at Argonne frame the future of nuclear design.
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U.S. Supreme Court Takes Up Texas Nuclear Waste Disposal Case
The case could establish the nation’s first independent repository for spent nuclear fuel in West Texas, despite the objections of state leaders.
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America’s Trade Wars: Past and Present
Trump’s trade dispute with China has expanded to Canada and Mexico. But this isn’t the first time the U.S. has conducted trade wars with adversaries and allies alike
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The Intellectual Origins of Trump’s Economic Policies
The Trump administration’s tariff announcements revive the age-old policy of import substitution industrialization (ISI) to protect domestic industries and stimulate growth. However, ISI could lead to significant economic disruptions for the U.S. and its trading partners.
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Trump’s Claim That U.S. Debt Calculation May Be Fraudulent Could Put the Economy in Danger
The US president, Donald Trump, is challenging official figures around the country’s federal debt, suggesting possible fraud in its calculation. With Trump in the White House, distinguishing between politically charged rhetoric and fiscal sustainability of the US federal debt will be essential for maintaining trust in the US economy and the health of the global financial system.
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Countering Blockship Attacks in Key U.S. Waterways
Blockship attacks entail obstructing key waterways by deliberately scuttling ships, running them aground, or having them impale themselves onto infrastructure. Such attacks could delay maritime movements in U.S. or key overseas ports, affecting all U.S. military services and potentially disrupting billions of dollars in commerce.
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Cornered by the UK’s Demand for an Encryption Backdoor, Apple Turns Off Its Strongest Security Setting
In response to the U.K. demands for a backdoor, Apple has stopped offering users in the U.K. Advanced Data Protection, an optional feature in iCloud that turns on end-to-end encryption for files, backups, and more.
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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.”