• 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

  • 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

  • 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?

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • Internet crawling helps in tracking infectious disease outbreaks

    New Web crawling tool helps identify and locate outbreaks of disease around the world

  • 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

  • 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”

  • 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

  • U.K. critical infrastructure vulnerable

    New report says last summer’s flood showed infrastructure’s vulnerability; funding for flood defenses was not sufficient or secure, undermining industry confidence, and there were not enough skilled engineers to deliver the protection from flooding needed

  • Israeli government prepares for major earthquake in north

    In one three-month period this year, around 500 small tremors were recorded in northern Israel; Israeli government health officials urge hospitals, municipalities to prepare for worst

  • Scientists probe mysterious 1908 Siberian mystery

    On 30 June 1908 an explosion equivalent to 15 megatons of TNT occurred approximately 3-6 miles above the Stony Tunguska River in a remote area of central Siberia; 80 million trees felled by the explosion over an area of some 2,100 square kilometres; the night sky was lit up across Europe and Asia and the shock waves were detected as far away as Britain; to date, there is no agreed explanation of the event

  • Business continuity in a globalized economy

    Organizations are evolving their focus from reactive to proactive to adaptive as they prepare for and respond to crises and disruptions