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NASA's UAV helps fight California wild fires
Fire crews are fighting more than 1,700 blazes that have blackened 829,000 acres of California this fire season; they need all the help they can get — and NASA extends such help by lending the state a modified Predator UAV
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Evidence of acid rain supports meteorite theory of Tunguska catastrophe
There are many theories about the source of the mysterious 1908 explosion in Siberia, an explosion which leveled more than 80 million trees over an area of more than 2,000 square kilometers; presence of acid rain lends support to one of them
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Criticism of delays in coordinating national emergency communication
Congress criticizes DHS for delays in coordinating a national emergency communications plan for first responders
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The crisis of U.S. infrastructure, III
The crisis of U.S. infrastructure is one of political will — the will, that is, to vote for money to maintain this elaborate infrastructure; the true political divide lie between Americans who are willing and able to pay up front for the nation’s needs — whether through taxes or tolls — and those who would rather skimp or burden their children
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Calgary researcher wins NIH grant for bacterial vaccine
CDC considers glanders and melioidosis as potential bioterrorism agents; Canadian researcher receives NIH grant to develop a vaccine
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Predicting hurricanes
During the summer and autumn, a large body of warm water with a surface temperature of more than 28 °C appears in the Gulf of Mexico; at certain times the current cannot remove heat fast enough from the gulf, creating conditions that are particularly favorable for intense hurricane formation
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Is the U.S. prepared for a bioterror attack?
Some experts believe a bioterrorist attack or pandemic outbreak could be inevitable. How would the United States fight back against an infectious disease outbreak?
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Bioterrorism target for ventilation research
Designing new HVAC systems for buildings would help tackle major threats to public safety including the release of noxious chemicals and bio-agents into public buildings
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California unveils GIS initiative
Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) enhance the technology for environmental protection, natural resource management, traffic flow, emergency preparedness and response, land use planning, and health and human services; California wants to avail itself of the technology’s benefits
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Global warming will cause storms to intensify
Daniel Bernoulli’s eighteenth-century equation basically says that as wind speed increases, air pressure decreases; his equation leaves out variables that were considered difficult to deal with such as friction and energy sources; Wolverines researchers now include these additional variables and find that for every 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit that the Earth’s surface temperature warms, the intensity of storms could increase by at least a few percent
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Worry: Pandemic mutations in bird flu revealed
Despite the ability of H5N1 avian influenza virus to spread, it cannot be transmitted efficiently from human to human, indicating it is not fully adapted to its new host species, the human; new research, however, reveals mutations in the virus that may result in a pandemic
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Internet crawling helps in tracking infectious disease outbreaks
New Web crawling tool helps identify and locate outbreaks of disease around the world
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Data leaks top concern for corporate computer users
New study shows that data leaks are becoming a leading source of headaches for U.S., U.K., German, and Japanese companies
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Rising sea level threatens U.K. coastal rail lines
Andrew McNaughton, Network Rail’s chief engineer: “The effects of climate change, and in particular sea level rise, are likely to increase the severity of the wave, tidal and wind effects on coastal defenses”
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September to be U.S. National Preparedness Month
DHS says that more than 1,200 national, regional, state, and local businesses and organizations have pledged their support for the department’s initiative
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The long view
Trump Aims to Shut Down State Climate Policies
President Donald Trump has launched an all-out legal attack on states’ authority to set climate change policy. Climate-focused state leaders say his administration has no legal basis to unravel their efforts.