• Who Will Benefit from Australia’s Critical Minerals Strategy?

    Critical mineral projects will be favored for Australian federal government loans under its new critical minerals strategy, but there are to be no tailored tax breaks. Nor are there any plans to make downstream processing a condition of mining or export approvals.

  • Four Ways Criminals Could Use AI to Target More Victims

    Warnings about artificial intelligence (AI) are ubiquitous right now, but we have been using AI tools for a long time. AI is a tool to increase efficiency, process and sort large volumes of data, and offload decision making – and these tools are open to everyone, including criminals. Observing how criminals have adapted to, and adopted, technological advances in the past, can provide some clues as to how they might use AI.

  • Titan Destroyed by “Catastrophic Implosion”

    The U.S. Coast Guard announced Thursday afternoon that the Titan submersible was likely destroyed by a catastrophic implosion. The Titan joins a sad, and long, list of lethal maritime accidents.

  • Rare Earth Elements in Turkey: Emerging Prospects

    Turkey discovered the world’s second-largest deposit of rare earth elements (REEs) in 2022, with an estimated reserve size of 694 million tons, making it the world’s second largest REEs deposit after China’s reserves of 800 million tons. China accounts for 60 percent of the worldwide REEs mined production, 85 percent of the world’s REEs processing capacity, and 90 percent share of the manufacturing of high-strength rare earth permanent magnets.

  • Robots Could Help Verify Compliance with Nuclear Arms Agreements

    Ensuring that countries abide by future nuclear arms agreements will be a vital task. Inspectors may have to count warheads or confirm the removal of nuclear weapons from geographical areas. Those hotspots could include underground bunkers and require confirmation that no weapons exist in a location at all. Now, researchers have devised an automated way to ensure compliance.

  • Scientific and Technological Flows Between the United States and China

    What are the potential benefits and risks of U.S.-Chinese scientific research collaboration? What is the nature and volume of scientific researcher flows between the United States and China? What potential threats and benefits have emerged from the recent uptick in scientific collaboration between the United States and China on aerospace engineering research?

  • As California Attempts a “Managed Retreat,” Coastal Homeowners Sue to Stay

    “Managed retreat” is a climate adaptation policy that calls for relocating and removing coastal structures rather than protecting them where they are. Experts say managed retreat is an important last-resort option for adapting to climate change, but California’s early attempts to implement the policy have provoked a backlash from homeowners and politicians.

  • Texas Farmers Are Worried One of the State’s Most Precious Water Resources Is Running Dry. You Should Be, Too.

    The Ogallala Aquifer serves farming communities in multiple states. When it runs dry, the agriculture industry in Texas and the nation is in jeopardy.

  • Can America’s Students Recover What They Lost During the Pandemic?

    Disastrous test scores increasingly show how steep a toll the COVID-19 era exacted on students, particularly minorities. Schools are grappling with how to catch up, and the experience of one city shows how intractable the obstacles are.

  • How Molten Salt Could Be the Lifeblood of Tomorrow’s Nuclear Energy

    Molten salt has caught the eye of the nuclear industry as an ideal working fluid for reactor cooling, energy transfer, fueling and fission product absorption. Many of the salts being considered are inexpensive, nontoxic, and easily transportable – and table salt is one of the constituents many reactor developers are choosing to use.

  • 150 Hydrogen-Powered Trucks Ready to Roll on European Roads

    Truck manufacturers Daimler Truck, Volvo Group, and Iveco have joined with fuel manufacturers and academic researchers to make heavy transport across Europe more climate friendly. The result: The first of a total of 150 hydrogen-powered trucks will start rolling on European roads next year.

  • First Hydrogen Filling Station Opens in Israel

    Israel’s first hydrogen fueling spot has opened, heralding the start of clean hydrogen-based transportation in Israel. Pioneering project enables a shift to non-polluting hydrogen fuel cell-based vehicles.

  • Why Insurance Companies Are Pulling Out of California and Florida, and How to Fix Some of the Underlying Problems

    When the nation’s No. 1 and No. 4 property and casualty insurance companies – State Farm and Allstate – confirmed that they would stop issuing new home insurance policies in California, it may have been a shock but shouldn’t have been a surprise. It’s a trend Florida and other hurricane- and flood-prone states know well. Insurers have been retreating from high-risk, high-loss markets for years after catastrophic events. As losses from natural hazards steadily increase, research shows it’s not a question of if insurance will become unavailable or unaffordable in high-risk areas – it’s a question of when.

  • China’s Push for Science and Technology Collaboration with BRI Countries

    China is aiming to make science and technology (S&T) cooperation a significant component of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). There are complaints over Chinese approach of sharing data and protection of intellectual property. Maintaining accountability and transparency is vital for progress and can ensure win-win cooperation with member countries of BRI. A key fundamental is to uphold the principle of “open science,” making scientific process more transparent, inclusive and democratic.

  • Boosting Supply Chains by Recovering Valuable Materials from Water

    Promoting national security and economic competitiveness will require America’s researchers to find new ways to obtain the materials that we need for many technologies. Traditional mining is fraught with challenges, while water, from the oceans to geothermal brines, is an underexplored resource for providing various materials.