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FLOODSMultiform Floods: A Growing Climate Threat
We are in the thick of danger season (aka summer), that time of year when droughts, heat waves, wildfires, floods and hurricanes are more likely to happen. Not only that; climate change has made these disasters more severe and more likely to occur.
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FLOODSRisks of Megafloods in California Increase
California is currently contending with historic drought, but climate change is sharply increasing the risk of a catastrophic megaflood that could submerge large swaths of the state and displace millions of residents. The frequency of catastrophic deluges increases as temperatures rise.
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COASTAL CHALLENGESWorld's Biggest Ice Sheet Could Cause Massive Sea Rise Without Action
A new study shows that the worst effects of global warming on the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) could be avoided. That depends upon temperatures not rising by more than 2°C above pre-industrial levels.
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BIOMETRICSDeepfakes Expose Vulnerabilities in Facial Recognition Technology
Mobile devices use facial recognition technology to help users quickly and securely unlock their phones, make a financial transaction or access medical records. But facial recognition technologies that employ a specific user-detection method are highly vulnerable to deepfake-based attacks that could lead to significant security concerns.
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HEAT WAVESMore Than 107M Americans Will Soon Live inside an Emerging “Extreme Heat Belt” with Temperatures above 125 F
Fifty U.S. counties, home to 8.1 million residents, are expected to experience temperatures above 125°F in 2023, the highest level of the National Weather Services’ heat index. By 2053, 1,023 U.S. counties are expected to exceed this temperature, an area that is home to 107.6 million Americans and covers a quarter of the U.S. land area.
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CYBERSECURITYThinking Like a Cyber-Attacker to Protect User Data
Researchers found that an understudied component of computer processors is susceptible to attacks from malicious agents. Then, they developed mitigation mechanisms.
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DISASTERSWealthiest Homeowners Most at Risk of Wildfire Hazard
The top 10 cent most valuable homes in the western United States are 70% more likely to be in high wildfire hazard areas than median-value properties, measured by county.
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CRITICAL MINERALSCalifornia Mining Firms Seek to Clean Up Lithium's Production Footprint
Three large mining projects based in California’s “Lithium Valley” aim to recover lithium with minimal environmental impacts. They have the potential to simplify the global lithium supply chain.
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TECH & THE LAWBrain-Monitoring Tech Advances Could Change the Law
There is an ankle-bracelet for offenders. What about a brain-bracelet? A new reportscrutinizes advances in neurotechnology and what it might mean for the law and the legal profession.
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CLIMATE CHALLENGESGrowing the Impacts of Climate-Smart Agriculture
A range of ‘climate-smart’ farming practices have the potential to lower that impact, and also help sequester carbon dioxide emitted by other parts of the economy. For example, planting cover crops in between plantings of cash crops can absorb CO2 into the soil, among other benefits. However, cover crops and other climate-smart practices aren’t yet the norm.
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AIAn AI Pilot May Be Able to Navigate Crowded Airspace
Researchers believe they have developed the first AI pilot that enables autonomous aircraft to navigate a crowded airspace. The artificial intelligence can safely avoid collisions, predict the intent of other aircraft, track aircraft and coordinate with their actions, and communicate over the radio with pilots and air traffic controllers.
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AIArtificial Intelligence Isn’t That Intelligent
In the world of information security, social engineering is the game of manipulating people into divulging information that can be used in a cyberattack or scam. Cyber experts may therefore be excused for assuming that AI might display some human-like level of intelligence that makes it difficult to hack. Unfortunately, it’s not. It’s actually very easy.
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UNCONVENTIONAL WEAPONSOrigins of Unconventional War
Flamethrowers, poison gases, incendiary bombs, the large-scale spreading of disease: are these terrifying agents of warfare modern inventions? Not by a long shot. Societies around the world have used biological and chemical weapons for thousands of years. “One sobering result of writing this book is the realization that there was no time or place when biological weapons were unthinkable,” says Adrienne Mayor, the author of a new book on the subject.
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GRID RELIABILITYSupport for Carbon Capture and Sequestration Key to Greener, More Reliable Grid
Existing fossil-fuel capacity can play a significant role in reaching net-zero with both current and modified “Section 45Q” tax incentives for carbon capture and storage (CCS).
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DROUGHTSFor Advance Drought Warning, Look to the Plants
Among the extreme weather impacts resulting from climate change, drought is a growing problem around the globe, leading to frequent wildfires, threats to water resources, and greater food insecurity. Researchers find signals in vegetation can help forecast devastating ‘flash’ droughts.
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More headlines
The long view
TRUTH DECAYTechnology Can Detect Fake News in Videos
Social media represent a major channel for the spreading of fake news and disinformation. This situation has been made worse with recent advances in photo and video editing and artificial intelligence tools, which make it easy to tamper with audiovisual files, for example with so-called deepfakes, which combine and superimpose images, audio and video clips to create montages that look like real footage.
ENCRYPTIONSolution to Encrypted Messages Being Hacked Before Sending or After Receipt
Message applications must do more to keep user data safe from undetected malware or over-the-shoulder eavesdropping that bypasses encryption before a message has been sent. Researchers have created a new end-to-end encryption mechanism that protects users’ communications at a far higher level than currently experienced on popular applications.
DUAL-USE RESEARCHStrengthening U.S. Government’s Enhanced Potential Pandemic Pathogen Framework, Dual Use Research
Group of scientists, public health experts, policy researchers propose strengthening of U.S. government’s policies regarding enhanced potential pandemic pathogen framework and dual use research of concern.
WATER SECURITYWater Resources to Become Less Predictable with Climate Change
Many regions of Earth rely on the accumulation of snow during the winter and subsequent melting in the spring and summer for regulating runoff and streamflow. Water resources will fluctuate increasingly and become more and more difficult to predict in snow-dominated regions across the Northern Hemisphere.
FloodsWarning System for Dangerous Heavy Rain and Flash Floods
In recent years, there have been repeated flash floods in Germany, some with devastating effects, which have been triggered by localized heavy rainfall. New project aims to provide prototypical warnings at different spatial scales, from the whole of Germany to individual federal states and down to the municipal level.
COASTAL CHALLENGESProtecting the Coastline
Barrier islands protect the coastline from storms, storm surge, waves and flooding. They can act as a buffer between the ocean and beachfront property. But as sea level rises, barrier islands retreat, or move closer toward the shore, which diminishes the buffer and protection. Oceanographers develop new model to better predict barrier island retreat.