• ChatGPT Could Help First Responders During Natural Disasters

    A little over a year since its launch, ChatGPT’s abilities are well known. The machine learning model can write a decent college-level essay and hold a conversation in an almost human-like way. But could its language skills also help first responders find those in distress during a natural disaster?

  • Innovative Long-Duration Energy Storage Project

    Argonne and Idaho National Laboratories have been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy for a project to validate CMBlu Energy’s battery technology for microgrid resilience and electric vehicle charging. U.S. Department of Energy selects national labs to validate the company’s battery technology for microgrid resilience and electric vehicle charging.

  • Costs of the Climate Crisis: An Insurance Umbrella for Nations at Risk

    International study in the run-up to COP28: Public-private partnerships may help protect developing countries from the financial consequences of climate change.

  • AI Networks Are More Vulnerable to Malicious Attacks Than Previously Thought

    Artificial intelligence tools hold promise for applications ranging from autonomous vehicles to the interpretation of medical images. However, a new study finds these AI tools are more vulnerable than previously thought to targeted attacks that effectively force AI systems to make bad decisions.

  • Smart Microgrids Can Restore Power More Efficiently and Reliably in an Outage

    It’s a story that’s become all too familiar — high winds knock out a power line, and a community can go without power for hours to days, an inconvenience at best and a dangerous situation at worst. Engineers developed an AI model that optimizes the use of renewables and other energy sources to restore power when a main utility fails.

  • Seaworthy Solution Yields Green Energy, Fresh Water

    Engineers have refined a model that not only cultivates green energy, but also desalinates ocean water for large, drought-stricken coastal populations.By pumping seawater to a mountaintop reservoir and then employing gravity to send the salty water down to a co-located hydropower plant and a reverse osmosis desalination facility, science can satisfy the energy and hydration needs of coastal cities with one system.

  • Researchers Fabricate Commercial Grade Uranium Dioxide HALEU Fuel

    As the world clamors for carbon-free power, U.S. nuclear reactor developers have responded with several advanced reactor designs. Nuclear energy from light water reactors already ranks among the safest forms of energy production, and most advanced reactors will use safety systems that rely on the laws of physics to virtually eliminate the possibility of a serious accident.

  • National Opportunities to Remove Carbon Dioxide at the Gigaton Scale

    Researchers have completed a first-of-its-kind high-resolution assessment of carbon dioxide (CO2) removal (CDR) in the United States. The report concludes that with today’s technologies, removing 1 billion metric tons of CO2 per year will annually cost roughly $130 billion in 2050, or about 0.5% of current GDP.

  • New Insights on Community Resilience and Adaptation

    A major weather event such as a hurricane or wildfire can have lasting, visible impacts on communities, but the longer-term, compounding effects of a changing climate can be harder to see. There are  ways that communities can adapt and become more resilient as the climate changes.

  • Using AI to Help Dams Run Smarter

    Korea faces a precipitation peak during the summer, relying on dams and associated infrastructure for water management. However, the escalating global climate crisis has led to the emergence of unforeseen typhoons and droughts, complicating dam operations. In response, a new study has emerged, aiming to surpass conventional physical models by harnessing the potential of an artificial intelligence (AI) model trained on extensive big data.

  • What if Law Enforcement Could ‘See’ Through Walls?

    New technology allows law enforcement to easily and safely identify whether any individuals are inside a room when direct line-of-sight is not an option. This is especially critical when conducting breaching operations, searching for trafficked individuals or in potential hostage situations, where the device gives responders precious intelligence and situational awareness while reducing the risk of physical harm to themselves.

  • Strengthening Domestic Supply Chains for Critical Minerals

    The USGS is investing millions of dollars in strengthening domestic supply chains for mineral resources critical to every economic sector and every member of society. Central to this effort is a nationwide mapping effort for critical minerals.

  • A Self-Service Screening Option Coming to the Airport Near You

    Self-service screening is coming to airport checkpoints, thanks to the Science and Technology Directorate’s Screening at Speed Program. A pilot of a new self-service screening system is scheduled to begin in January at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada.

  • Modeling Geothermal Systems’ Viability

    Geothermal power has a lot of promise as a renewable energy source that is not dependent on the sun shining or the wind blowing, but it has some obstacles to wide adoption. One challenge is that a limited number of locations in the U.S. naturally have the right conditions: hot rock relatively close to the surface and with plentiful groundwater to heat up. Web tool looks belowground for an economically viable renewable energy source.

  • Huawei’s New Mate 60 Phones Are a Lesson in Unintended Consequences

    In October 2022, the Commerce Department introduced a set of export-control measures designed to prevent the use of American chip technology for Chinese military purposes. Rules were also imposed that aimed to restrict China’s semiconductor production to older 14-nm technology. These controls have had varying degrees of success, but the 14-nm restriction is one of the more overt failures, as the 7-nm chips in the new Huawei’s Mate 60 phones shows.