• 2022 Was World’s 6th-Warmest Year on Record

    The planet continued its warming trend in 2022, with last year ranking as the sixth-warmest year on record since 1880. Antarctic sea ice coverage melted to near-record lowsand global ocean heat content (OHC) hit a record high.

  • Was That Explosion Chemical or Nuclear?

    If an underground explosion occurs anywhere in the world, there is a good chance that a seismologist can pinpoint it. However, they won’t necessarily be able to tell you what kind of explosion had occurred—whether it is chemical or nuclear in nature.  New PNNL research makes it easier to differentiate between the two.

  • Cybersecurity Defense Software Put Through the Wringer at NATO’s Cyber Coalition 2022

    How might artificial intelligence help NATO allies protect information technology systems, power grids, and other assets?

  • Metal-Free Batteries Raise Hope for More Sustainable and Economical Grids

    Rechargeable batteries that use ammonium cations as charge carriers could provide ecofriendly and sustainable substitutes to metal-ion-based batteries. Metal-ion batteries dominate the market, but they depend on limited and declining resources, which threatens long-term availability.

  • What Killer Robots Mean for the Future of War

    As AI weapons become increasingly sophisticated, public concern is growing over fears about lack of accountability and the risk of technical failure.

  • Hackathon Focuses on Making Policing More Equitable

    A hackathon, just to be clear, has nothing to do with tunneling into computer servers and trying to swipe bank accounts or social security numbers. It’s a timed race to develop something new—a mobile app or computer game, a business idea, a fresh way of thinking about public policy.

  • New Method Tracks Groups of Anomalous Users

    Malicious or fictitious users on internet networks have become the bane of the internet’s existence. Many bemoan the increasing presence of such users, but few have developed methods to track and expose them. Until now.

  • Compound Extreme Heat and Drought Will Hit 90% of World Population – Oxford Study

    More than 90% of the world’s population is projected to face increased risks from the compound impacts of extreme heat and drought, potentially widening social inequalities as well as undermining the natural world’s ability to reduce CO2 emissions in the atmosphere - according to a study from Oxford’s School of Geography.

  • Yeast Material Developed for Training First Responders on Biothreats

    First responders who train for emergencies involving threats from biological agents such as bacterial or viral pathogens, need to do so in a safe and careful manner. To help meet their needs, researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a reference material based on yeast cells.

  • Achieving Foundational Security for Food Systems

    U.S. cereal crops such as corn, rice, and wheat feed hundreds of millions of Americans and millions more around the world. Ensuring active defense of these and other staple food grasses is a critical national security priority. New DARPA project seeks advanced threat-detection and warning capabilities for crop defense.

  • Interest in Geothermal Energy is Growing

    These days, some 400 power plants in 30 countries generate electricity using steam generated beneath the earth’s surface, producing a total capacity of 16 gigawatts (GW). Despite its advantages, geothermal energy has seen limited use compared to fossil fuels, but recent energy shocks have increased interest in this energy source.

  • Can Floating Solar Islands Meet the World’s Future Energy Needs?

    Covering less than ten per cent of the world’s hydropower reservoirs with floating solar panels would yield as much energy as all hydropower does today, one researcher says.

  • Calls for More Progress on Space Governance Growing Louder

    Space may seem infinite, but the narrow band that hugs the Earth, where satellites and space stations operate, is not. A recent RAND study described it as congested, contested, and littered with debris. Tens of thousands of additional satellites are scheduled to launch in the next few years, the vanguard of a new space era. Existing space treaties won’t be enough to keep them safe, to prevent crowding and collisions, and to preserve the promise of outer space.

  • Towers in the Storm

    The problem with the U.S. electrical grid is that many transmission towers have exceeded their design life by about 50 years, which means the aging grid today faces bigger chances of failure. One threat to the grid is from damaging winds of extreme storms such as hurricanes.

  • Space Solar Power Technology Demo Launched into Orbit in January

    Space solar power provides a way to tap into the practically unlimited supply of solar energy in outer space, where the energy is constantly available without being subjected to the cycles of day and night, seasons, and cloud cover.