-
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.
-
-
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?
-
-
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.
-
-
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.
-
-
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.
-
-
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.
-
-
Guidance for Critical Minerals Policy from ASPI’s Darwin Dialogue 2024
Critical minerals are a focal point of international contention in an increasingly fracturing international system. These minerals underlie competition across civil and defense sectors and promise economic opportunity throughout their supply chain.
-
-
Bans on Gallium n Germanium Exports Could Cost the U.S. Billions
The disruptions of critical mineral supplies would negatively affect the U.S. economy. Researchers estimate there could be a $3.4 billion decrease in U.S. GDP if China implements a total ban on exports of gallium and germanium, minerals used in some semiconductors and other high-tech manufacturing.
-
-
Wargaming the Future of Climate Change
Military leaders have used games to think through everything from nuclear escalation to pandemic disease to the dangers of artificial intelligence. Players in these games might face any number of calamities with every turn—but, until recently, climate change was not one of them. That has changed.
-
-
Preparing our Ports for the Future of Alternative Maritime Fuels
Fuels like ammonia will greatly reduce carbon emissions—better for the environment, but are they safe for our infrastructure? The Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) recently conducted a market research survey to assess hazards associated with alternative fuel production, storage, and transport at U.S. ports. High-risk ports could be the sites for future ammonia release tests that will inform preparedness and response.
-
-
World Heading Towards a “Data Doomsday” as Demand Outstrips Energy Supply
New research warns that global renewable electricity supply will be unable to meet the surging demand from digital data by 2033.
-
-
Startup Turns Mining Waste into Critical Metals for the U.S.
At the heart of the energy transition is a metal transition. Wind farms, solar panels, and electric cars require more exotic metals with unique properties, known as rare earth elements. Phoenix Tailings is creating domestic supply chains for rare earth metals, key to the clean energy transition.
-
-
Global Catastrophic Risk Assessment
Global catastrophic and existential risks hold the potential to threaten human civilization. Addressing these risks is crucial for ensuring humans’ long-term survival and flourishing.
-
-
Can We Live on Our Planet without Destroying It?
With eight billion people, we use a lot of the Earth’s resources in ways that are likely unsustainable. How can we adapt our lifestyle to stay within the limits of what the Earth can give? Klaus Hubacek investigates planetary boundaries.
-
-
University of Central Florida Students Secure Gold at the DOE’s 10th CyberForce Competition
Students gained hands-on practical cybersecurity experience and recognition by securing a wind energy generation plant against simulated cyberattacks.
-
The long view
Technology Evolves the Tactics: Preparing for the Rise of Terrorist AI Harms
Terrorist groups, like the societies they emerge from, adapt to new technologies. As AI capabilities evolve, so too do the tactics of extremist actors. While the full effects may take years to observe, as the technologies continue to develop, we are starting to see them directly alter extremism tradecraft.
Bookshelf: A Tale of American Lawyers and Chinese Engineers
The U.S. and China have fundamental differences, a new book argues. China would be an “engineering state” whereas the U.S. is a “lawyerly society.” Most Chinese Communist Party leaders have been engineers focused on building mega projects such as highways, bridges, fast trains. and airports. In recent decades the U.S. has become a “lawyerly society” as the country’s elite, dominated by lawyers, focused on procedure and process rather than getting things done.
Europe’s Banks Quietly Mobilize for Economic Warfare
For years, banks treated defense as a reputational issue, as well as an environmental, social and governance risk, often lumping it with tobacco or fossil fuels as something to be managed at arm’s length. That era is ending. Russia’s war in Ukraine, China’s coercive trade tactics and the United States’ pressure on Europe to shoulder more of its defense burden have exposed the limits of moralistic restraint. Financial mobilization is the new norm.
A New Generation of Industries Emerges in Texas as Feds Push to Mine More Rare Minerals
The U.S. doesn’t produce the minerals and metals needed for renewable energy, microchips or military technology. Major oil companies are drilling in East Texas again, but not for oil. This time, they’re after lithium for batteries and other rare elements.
U.S. and Australia Deepen Critical-Minerals Engagement to Counter China
Engagement between Australia and the United States on critical minerals has matured from technical cooperation into a strategic partnership, aligning resource security with clean energy and defense priorities.
Bookshelf: Critical Mineral Dilemmas
Whoever controls the production and processing of lithium, copper and other critical minerals could dominate the 21st century economy, much as producers of fossil fuels defined the 20th century, writes Ernest Scheyder in a new book.