• Europe Cooperates on Gas, as Russia Turns Off Taps to Poland, Bulgaria

    Russia has halted gas exports to Poland and Bulgaria, ramping up the pressure on all EU states to find alternative suppliers. Some are working on cutting Russian gas altogether, others have plans to share with neighbors.

  • Americans Move to More Solar and Wind Power in 2021

    In 2021, Americans used 5 percent more energy than in 2020. Solar and wind energy production increased drastically this past year, with jumps of 20 percent and 11 percent, respectively; biomass-derived energy also increased by 7 percent. These increases contrasted with hydro, geothermal and nuclear power, which decreased by 12 percent, 4 percent and 1 percent, respectively.

  • Why the Food Crisis Will Pass

    Even though the food crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine is now causing acute problems, there is no reason for panic, according to University of Copenhagen food economist Henning Otte Hansen. High food prices will not last because the agricultural sector is equipped to ramp up production and stabilize markets.

  • The Social Impact of Disasters

    A human geographer and a physicist conduct research into weather and climate risks. Their methods may be different, but they agree that the scale of a disaster is often determined more by societal decisions than by the natural hazard itself.  

  • A Peak at the Nation’s Future Cybersecurity Workforce

    Hack the Port 22, hosted jointly by USCYBERCOM and the Maryland Innovation and Security Institute, brought together subject matter experts from government, industry, and academia to highlight the nation’s critical infrastructure and cyber defense priorities.

  • AI, Machine Learning to Help Defend Against Cyberattacks

    Two new tools are helping cybersecurity professionals fight the vast volume of threats and attacks— artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. AI and machine learning can detect novel malicious code, catch fraudulent charges on a credit card or fraudulent network login attempts, block phishing messages on an email service and assist companies with cloud management in spotting anomalies that traditional cyber defense technologies may not pick up.

  • Industrial Clusters Help Advance Energy Transition

    Industrial clusters as geographic areas that comprise co-located companies representing either a single or multiple industries. The proximity of multiple industrial energy consumers creates an opportunity to scale low-carbon technologies through multi-stakeholder collaboration and can yield sizeable economic opportunities.

  • China’s Dominance of Electric Vehicle Supply Chains Jeopardize U.S. Energy Transition

    While Russia holds significant leverage in influencing oil and gas prices, it pales in comparison to China’s position in several strategic industries critical to the energy transition. A case study shows China’s ‘soft power’ in move to cleaner alternatives.

  • Can Africa Satisfy Europe's Energy Demand?

    As the war in Ukraine rages on, the European Union is desperately searching for alternative energy sources. Africa has abundant reserves, but experts say the continent’s energy sector needs urgent reforms and help.

  • Cloud Server Leasing Can Leave Sensitive Data Up for Grabs

    Renting space and IP addresses on a public server has become standard business practice, but according to computer scientists, current industry practices can lead to “cloud squatting,” which can create a security risk, endangering sensitive customer and organization data intended to remain private. New research provides solutions for companies, cloud-service providers to help minimize security risks.

  • New Algorithm to Simplify Decisions for Ship Channel Dredging

    Millions of dollars are at stake every time a major ship channel is cleaned up. Delays in dredging can cost even more by triggering increased risks, repeated maintenance and lost revenue. A new decision-support tool could become a game changer in the dredging of ship channels.

  • Marine Highways Bolster Supply Chain Efficiency, Resilience

    The increased use of the nation’s navigable waterways relieves landside congestion, provides new and efficient transportation options, increases the productivity of the surface transportation system, and strengthens the U.S. supply chains.

  • China’s Growing Influence in Latin America

    Over the past two decades, China has developed close economic and security ties with many Latin American countries, including Brazil and Venezuela. But Beijing’s growing sway in the region has raised concerns in Washington and beyond.

  • Chinese Rare Earth Consolidation a Cause for Concern

    The world needs more readily available rare earth metals. Over the coming decades, demand for rare earths is forecasted to increase by two to eight times over current supply. Through effective long-term investment across the rare earth supply chain, China has earned some 50–60 per cent of the mining market share and around 90 per cent in the intermediate processing stage.

  • The EU's Risky Dependency on Critical Chinese Metals

    The EU needs critical metals and rare earths to succeed in its energy transition and digitization drive. But even as the EU tries hard to cut its energy supplies from Russia, the bloc is also heavily dependent on China when it comes to the industrial metals and rare earths.