• Envisioning Safer Cities with Artificial Intelligence

    Over the past several decades, artificial intelligence has advanced tremendously, and today it promises new opportunities for more accurate healthcare, enhanced national security and more effective education, researchers say. But what about civil engineering and city planning? How do increased computing power and machine learning help create safer, more sustainable and resilient infrastructure?

  • Increasing Pace, Intensity of Climate Hazards to Compound Security Threats: Report

    The other day the Expert Group of the International Military Council on Climate and Security (IMCCS) released its second annual World Climate and Security Report, which warns of the compound security threats posed by the convergence of climate change with other global risks, such as COVID-19.

  • How Virus Detectives Trace the Origins of an Outbreak – and Why It’s So Tricky

    Every time there is a major disease outbreak, one of the first questions scientists and the public ask is: “Where did this come from?” As an expert in viral ecology, I am often asked how scientists trace the origins of a virus. In my work, I have found many new viruses and some well-known pathogens that infect wild plants without causing any disease. Plant, animal or human, the methods are largely the same. Tracking down the origins of a virus involves a combination of extensive fieldwork, thorough lab testing and quite a bit of luck.

  • Like a Spellchecker for Developers: Automated Detection of Security Vulnerabilities in Cloud Applications

    Cloud computing is a growing market. But cyberattacks on cloud software systems are on the rise, too, as these applications often contain security vulnerabilities that hackers are able to exploit. CodeShield software – which is produced by the company of the same name – uncovers these vulnerabilities and fixes them using automated methods.

  • Germany Warns: AI Arms Race Already Underway

    An AI arms race is already underway. That’s the blunt warning from Germany’s foreign minister, Heiko Maas. It’s a reality at the heart of the struggle for supremacy between the world’s greatest powers. AI is making militaries faster, smarter and more efficient. But if left unchecked, it threatens to destabilize the world.

  • How Does Climate Change Drive Migration, and What Can Be Done about It?

    April saw a 20-year high in the number of people stopped at the U.S./Mexico border, and President Joe Biden recently raised the cap on annual refugee admissions. Stanford researchers discuss how climate change’s effect on migration will change, how we can prepare for the impacts and what kind of policies could help alleviate the issue.

  • Climate Change Increases Extreme Rainfall and the Chance of Floods

    Climate experts warn that, without urgent action, climate change will continue to cause an increase in the intensity of extreme rainfall that can lead to severe flooding.

  • Challenges in Implementing Physical Security Measures in K–12 Schools

    A core responsibility of the local education agencies (LEAs) that operate kindergarten-through–12th grade (K–12) schools across the United States is creating safe and secure environments that support effective teaching and learning. What challenges do LEAs face related to school physical security?

  • How AI Could Alert Firefighters of Imminent Danger

    Firefighting is a race against time, but exactly how much time? For firefighters, that part is often unclear. Building fires can turn from bad to deadly in an instant, and the warning signs are frequently difficult to discern amid the mayhem of an inferno. To remove this major blind spot, NIST researchers have developed P-Flash, or the Prediction Model for Flashover.

  • A 20-Foot Sea Wall? Miami Faces the Hard Choices of Climate Change.

    In Miami, the U.S. metropolitan area that is perhaps most exposed to sea-level rise, the problem is not climate change denialism. Patricia Mazzei writes that “the trouble is that the magnitude of the interconnected obstacles the region faces can feel overwhelming, and none of the possible solutions are cheap, easy or pretty.”

  • Retreat from Rising Seas

    As climate change causes seas to rise, coastal communities around the world face a difficult dilemma: Should they fight to keep their homes and communities above water, or accept that moving inland may be the best option?

  • Shadow Figment Technology Foils Cyberattacks

    Scientists have created a cybersecurity technology called Shadow Figment that is designed to lure hackers into an artificial world, then stop them from doing damage by feeding them illusory tidbits of success.

  • Increasing Flood Risks in the U.K.

    As climate change continues to cause unpredictable and extreme weather events around the world, researchers are calling for engineers to rethink how they design for flood prevention. Flood frequency analysis has been the cornerstone of flood risk control, hydraulic structure design, and water resource management, but the researchers say that flood series in most areas do not follow historical patterns.

  • Tipping Elements Can Destabilize Each Other, Leading to Climate Domino Effects

    Under global warming, tipping elements in the Earth system can destabilize each other and eventually lead to climate domino effects. The ice sheets on Greenland and West Antarctica are potential starting points for tipping cascades, a novel network analysis reveals.

  • DOD UFO Report Boldly Goes Where No Official Report Has Gone Before

    If you have an interest in UFOs (unidentified flying objects, for the uninitiated) and have always wondered what exactly the US government and intelligence services know about them, June may be a big month for you, as a DOD task force will share data it collected on unusual flight phenomena with Congress. UFO enthusiasts rejoice, but some experts with decades of research under his belt doesn’t believe aliens have ever been to Earth.