Detection

WMDTo Better Detect Chemical Weapons, Materials Scientists Are Exploring New Technologies
By Olamilekan Joseph Ibukun
Chemical warfare is one of the most devastating forms of conflict. It leverages toxic chemicals to disable, harm or kill without any physical confrontation. Across various conflicts, it has caused tens of thousands of deaths and affected over a million people through injury and long-term health consequences.
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WMDAs AI Worsens WMD Threat, Australia Must Lead Response
By Devon Whittle
When dealing with AI-enabled CBRN threats, we cannot afford to wait until the first catastrophic incident occurs. AI companies have acknowledged that frontier models have capabilities that, without adequate safeguards, could enable novices to create biological and chemical weapons.
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CHEMICAL HAZARDSFeds Move to Eliminate Petrochemical Watchdog, Putting Texans and Others at Risk
By Elena Bruess, Capital & Main
Amid increasingly intense weather, the Chemical Safety Board is the lone independent agency watching over the Gulf Coast’s petrochemical corridor.
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NUCLEAR WASTEModel Predicts Long-Term Effects of Nuclear Waste on Underground Disposal Systems
By Zach Winn
The simulations matched results from an underground lab experiment in Switzerland, suggesting modeling could be used to validate the safety of nuclear disposal sites.
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NUCLEAR POWER Keeping the Lights on with Nuclear Waste: Radiochemistry Transforms Nuclear Waste into Strategic Materials
By John Domol
How UNLV radiochemistry is pioneering the future of energy in the Southwest by salvaging strategic materials from nuclear dumps –and making it safe.
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NUCLEAR WARPotential Environmental Effects of Nuclear War
In the 1980s, in response to the buildup of U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals during the Cold War, scientists issued warnings about the potential for a “nuclear winter” scenario which would follow a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. Since then, military, political, and technological changes have reshaped the nuclear weapons landscape, while scientific advances have deepened the understanding of and ability to model Earth system processes.
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IRAN’S NUKESPost-Attack Assessment of the First 12 Days of Israeli and U.S. Strikes on Iranian Nuclear Facilities
By David Albright and Spencer Faragasso, with the Good ISIS Team
Israel’s historic Operation Rising Lion and the United States Operation Midnight Hammer have targeted many Iranian nuclear sites, causing massive damage to its nuclear program and setting it back significantly.
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CHEMICAL EXPLOSIONSTrump Quietly Shutters the Only Federal Agency that Investigates Industrial Chemical Explosions
By Tristan Baurick
Hazardous chemical accidents happen in the U.S. about every other day. Who will investigate them now?
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TRUTH DECAYMost Americans Believe Misinformation Is a Problem — Federal Research Cuts Will Only Make the Problem Worse
By H. Colleen Sinclair
Research on misinformation and disinformation has become the latest casualty of the Trump administration’s restructuring of federal research priorities. Following Trump’s executive orde, the National Science Foundation canceled hundreds of grants that supported research on misinformation and disinformation. But Trump’s executive order, instead of providing protections, will likely weaken Americans’ defenses against misinformation and disinformation, whether generated at home or by foreign actors.
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NUCLEAR WASTE Technology to Reduce the Impact of Used Nuclear Fuel
By Marguerite Huber
Transmutation technologies can significantly reduce the mass, volume, activity and lifespan of commercial used nuclear fuel (UNF) by converting long-living hazardous isotopes into materials that decay more quickly.
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PATHOGEN SMUGGLINGChinese Nationals Charged with Conspiracy and Smuggling a Dangerous Biological Pathogen into the U.S. for their Work at a University of Michigan Laboratory
Two Chinese nationals were charged with smuggling into America a fungus called Fusarium graminearum, which scientific literature classifies as a potential agroterrorism weapon. This noxious fungus causes “head blight,” a disease of wheat, barley, maize, and rice, and is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year.
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SENSORSLow-Power Sensors Could Last 10 Years, Providing Surveillance, Security
By Mollie Rappe
Researchers at Sandia have spent the last three years developing an ultra-low-power chemical sensor to detect sarin and other chemical warfare agents or gaseous industrial toxins, aiming to protect the public and warfighters.
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NUCLEAR SURVIVALWhat We’ve Learned from Survivors of the Atomic Bombs
By Nancy Huddleston
Q&A with Dr. Preetha Rajaraman, New Vice Chair for the Radiation Effects Research Foundation in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
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NUCLEAR WASTEHow and Where Is Nuclear waste stored in the U.S.?
By Gerald Frankel
Around the U.S., about 90,000 tons of nuclear waste is stored at over 100 sites in 39 states, in a range of different structures and containers. For decades, the nation has been trying to send it all to one secure location. Perhaps there will be a temporary site whose location passes muster with the Supreme Court. But in the meantime, the waste will stay where it is.
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DISASTERSAvalanche Detection Using Passive Radar
In winter, avalanches pose the biggest danger in mountains. Avalanche monitoring is therefore of critical importance to ensure the safety of people and infrastructure.
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