• National Security Consequences of Climate Change

    The consequences of climate change for national security and international stability are numerus and serious. Rising temperatures which reduce agricultural opportunities can lead to mass migrations away from struggling communities. Violent hurricanes and winter storms can disrupt electric grid operations, interrupting access to electricity and other utilities long after the initial climate threat has passed. Researchers are simulating how climate change affects the safety and security of the country.

  • How Climate Change Will Impact National Security

    The recent U.S. National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) lays out the likely security implications over the next two decades of the mounting climate crisis. Calder Walton, the research director at Harvard’s Belfer Center, says: “Let’s start with the basics: that climate change does pose a threat to U.S. national security. The National Intelligence Estimate is a joint assessment produced by the entire U.S. intelligence community, 18 agencies. That’s significant. There are no naysayers; there’s no doubt. So that’s a breakthrough. In this extraordinarily polarized and politicized environment, that is a big milestone itself.”

  • First Planetary Defense Test

    An asteroid slammed into Earth 63 billion years ago, igniting vast fires which threw smoke and soot into the atmosphere, plunging the planet into a prolonged winter, killing many plants on which herbivores depended. The extinction of the dinosaurs was only one consequence of that event. NASA wants to make sure there is no repetition of such a calamity: The agency is planning the first-ever planetary defense test, which deliberately collides a spacecraft into an asteroid called Dimorphos. The aim is to try and deflect the asteroid away from its Earth-bound trajectory. 

  • University of Central Florida Students Defend Virtual Energy System to Win CyberForce Competition

    The Knights of the University of Central Florida won the DOE’s CyberForce Competition, valiantly defending and securing a hydropower energy system against a malicious virtual cyberattack. The event challenged 120 teams from 105 colleges and universities to thwart a simulated cyberattack.

  • Preparing Future Cybersecurity Leaders for Protecting Critical Infrastructure

    A network of Virginia universities, in partnership with the Virginia Department of Elections, joined to create an innovative educational program to train future cybersecurity professionals to protect election infrastructure.

  • Congress Restarts Push for China Legislation by Year’s End

    Lawmakers are renewing a push to pass legislation that would boost U.S. competition with China, amid rising concerns about the global supply chain. Addressing U.S. competition with China is one of the few areas of broad bipartisan support on Capitol Hill, although lawmakers differ on the approach.

  • Zombie Apocalypse? How Gene Editing Could Be Used as a Weapon – and What to Do About It

    There is a scarier scenario that a repeat of the COVID-1 pandemic: What if the threat wasn’t COVID-19, but a gene-edited pathogen designed to turn us into zombies – ghost-like, agitated creatures with little awareness of our surroundings? With recent advances in gene editing, it may be possible for bioterrorists to design viruses capable of altering our behavior, spreading such a disease and ultimately killing us. And chances are we still wouldn’t be sufficiently prepared to deal with it.

  • A Secure Environment for Developing the Future of Cybersecurity Solutions

    To stay ahead of hackers and cybercriminals, we need a rapid, streamlined way to develop, test, and utilize cutting-edge cybersecurity solutions. DHS ST and CISA are partnering to develop CISA’s Cybersecurity Laboratory.

  • Be Prepared: It Is Impossible to Predict an Earthquake

    In earthquake-prone developed countries like Japan and New Zealand, even severe earthquakes cause very few deaths – they are mainly stories of economic loss. Earthquakes without Frontiers (EwF) supported physical and social scientists in eight U.K. universities and institutes working to increase resilience to earthquakes in Asian countries. But throughout much of the Mediterranean—Middle East–Central Asia earthquake belt, earthquakes here will kill tens, or hundreds of thousands of people.

  • Using AI to Provide the World with Drinking Water

    Though water covers 71 percent of earth’s surface, more than 2.5 billion people in the world lack access to fresh water at least once a month. Researchers are seeking new possibilities in water purification through using AI agents in the desalination process.

  • CyberForce Competition: Collegiate Students Try to Outwit Cyberattackers

    The cybersecurity field faces a shortfall of qualified professionals to fill nearly half a million open jobs. The CyberForce Competition, to be held on 13 November at the Argonne National Laboratory, will see college and university students from across the United States attempt to thwart a simulated cyberattacks. The competition seeks to inspire and help develop the next generation of energy sector cyber defenders.

  • Machine Learning Improves Earthquake Detection Capabilities

    Researchers are applying machine learning algorithms to help interpret massive amounts of ground deformation data collected with Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) satellites; the new algorithms will improve earthquake detection. The new methodology enables the detection of ground deformation automatically at a global scale.

  • Experts Call for More Comprehensive Research into Solar Geoengineering

    Two articles published in Science magazine this week argue for more and better social science research into the potential use of solar geoengineering to offset some of the global warming from greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

  • Tidal Stream Power Can Generate 11% of U.K. Electricity Demand

    Tidal stream power has the potential to deliver 11 percent of the U.K. current annual electricity and play a significant role in the government’s drive for net-zero.

  • Human-Caused Climate Change Increases Wildfire Activity

    The western United States has experienced a rapid increase of fire weather as the vapor pressure deficit (VPD) increases in the area during the warm season. New research shows that two-thirds (approximately 68 percent) of the increase in VPD is due to human-caused climate change.