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Mathematical Models Tackle Covid Infection Dynamics
Even years after the emergence of the COVID-19 global pandemic, the workings of SARS-CoV-2 infection inside the human body, including the early activity of the virus and the role of the body’s immune response, has proved difficult to precisely ascertain.
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The Energy Transition Is Affecting Attitudes Towards Mining
A survey finds the growing demand for critical minerals to support renewable energy is increasing public acceptance of mining in Australia. It also highlights that trust is a precious commodity.
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Building a Fellowship that Empowers Policymakers to Leverage Science
As all of us just saw with hurricanes Helene and Milton, extreme weather and other impacts of climate change are already affecting the fabric of our society. As evident by these recent tragedies, U.S. leaders are navigating a complex and interconnected policy landscape as they wrestle with how to confront climate change.
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Delay and Pay: Tipping Point Costs Quadruple After Waiting
There’s more to weigh than catastrophic environmental change as tipping points draw near. Another point to consider, a new study reveals, is the cost of undoing the damage.
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China’s Critical Mineral Strategy Goes Beyond Geopolitics
China dominates critical mineral refining but faces its own supply vulnerabilities, highlighting the complexity of global dependencies. A national strategy seeks to balance a focus of robust industrial policy on critical minerals while fostering international cooperation. A balanced approach involving China in global frameworks can reduce geopolitical tensions and foster sustainable supply chain solutions.
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Americans Face an Insurability Crisis as Climate Change Worsens Disasters – a Look at How Insurance Companies Set Rates and Coverage
When home insurance averages $2,377 a year nationally, and $11,000 per year in Florida, this is a blow to many people. If affordability and relevance of insurance continue to degrade, real estate prices will start to decline in exposed locations. This will be the most tangible sign that climate change is driving an insurability crisis that disrupts wider financial stability.
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Nuclear Is Here ... and Here and Here
The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) helped start the nuclear age more than 80 years ago, and it remains at the forefront of nuclear research. The lab is also actively involved in promoting east Tennessee’s nuclear industry and consulting with nuclear businesses that move into the area.
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What a Second Trump Presidency Will Mean for Energy and Climate
The 2024 election has put a new administration in the White House, but the nation remains deeply divided on a large number of issues, including many policy proposals that implicate energy and climate change.
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AI, Bioterrorism and the Urgent Need for Australian Action
Experts worry that, within a few years, AI will put that capability into the hands of tens of thousands of people. Without a new approach to regulation, the risk of bioterrorism and lab leaks will soar.
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U.S. Army Cyber Command, DARPA Evaluate Advanced Cyber Threat Detection Technologies
Joint activities through the Constellation program accelerate maturation of tactical and strategic cyber capabilities.
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Thinking the Unthinkable at COP29
We shouldn’t need to be thinking of future global temperatures well in excess of 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, where the wildfires, droughts, flooding and other extreme weather effects of climate change are expected to become catastrophic. But alas the consequences of burning all those fossil fuels for energy and the feeble progress towards cutting emissions means that is where we are heading at the moment. Has the time come to consider climate repair as a necessary measure?
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Maintaining Bridge Safety: Digital Sensing-Based Monitoring System
Bridge maintenance monitoring technology is applied to long-span bridges such as cable-stayed bridges and suspension bridges. This monitoring system consumes a lot of resources for design and installation, and the system configuration itself is complex, so there are limits to its application for maintenance of small- and medium-sized bridges. This is bout to change.
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Assessing Small Modular Reactor Applications to Rebuild a Clean Economy in Post-War Ukraine
Building on a decades-long partnership, the Argonne National Laboratory will play a leading role in planning and rebuilding the nuclear-generated clean energy infrastructure in post-war Ukraine.
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Impact of Climate Change on Water Resources Will Increase Price Tag to Decarbonize the Grid
Current plans to achieve zero emissions on the grid by 2050 vastly underestimate the required investments in generation and transmission infrastructure. The reason: these plans do not account for climate change’s impacts on water resources.
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New AI Tool Generates Realistic Satellite Images of Future Flooding
Visualizing the potential impacts of a hurricane on people’s homes before it hits can help residents prepare and decide whether to evacuate. The method could help communities better prepare for approaching storms.
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The long view
New Technology is Keeping the Skies Safe
DHS S&T Baggage, Cargo, and People Screening (BCP) Program develops state-of-the-art screening solutions to help secure airspace, communities, and borders
Factories First: Winning the Drone War Before It Starts
Wars are won by factories before they are won on the battlefield,Martin C. Feldmann writes, noting that the United States lacks the manufacturing depth for the coming drone age. Rectifying this situation “will take far more than procurement tweaks,” Feldmann writes. “It demands a national-level, wartime-scale industrial mobilization.”
How Artificial General Intelligence Could Affect the Rise and Fall of Nations
Visions for potential AGI futures: A new report from RAND aims to stimulate thinking among policymakers about possible impacts of the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI) on geopolitics and the world order.
Smaller Nuclear Reactors Spark Renewed Interest in a Once-Shunned Energy Source
In the past two years, half the states have taken action to promote nuclear power, from creating nuclear task forces to integrating nuclear into long-term energy plans.
Keeping the Lights on with Nuclear Waste: Radiochemistry Transforms Nuclear Waste into Strategic Materials
How UNLV radiochemistry is pioneering the future of energy in the Southwest by salvaging strategic materials from nuclear dumps –and making it safe.
Model Predicts Long-Term Effects of Nuclear Waste on Underground Disposal Systems
The simulations matched results from an underground lab experiment in Switzerland, suggesting modeling could be used to validate the safety of nuclear disposal sites.