• Rapid Land Sinking Leaves Cities Vulnerable to Rising Seas

    Sea levels are rising as Earth’s ice sheets melt and as warming sea water expands, but many densely populated coastal cities around the world are more vulnerable to sea level rise because large amounts of their land are sinking. They suggest that an increase in industrial processes such as the extraction of groundwater, oil, and gas, as well as the rapid construction of buildings and other urban infrastructure may be contributing to this vulnerability.

  • U.S. Is Falling Behind China in Key Technologies: Experts

    The United States has fallen behind China in the development of several key technologies, and it now faces an uncertain future in which other countries could challenge U.S. historic dominance in the development of cutting-edge technology. A new report envisions a future where China, not the U.S., captures the trillions of dollars of income generated by the new technological advances and uses its leverage to make the case that autocracy, not democracy, is the superior form of government.

  • A New Strategy to Speed Up Cold Case Investigations

    Solving crimes with forensic genetic genealogy is slow and complicated. A new mathematical analysis could crack cases 10 times faster.

  • Security-Focused, 5G Wireless Test Range

    Researchers have opened the nation’s first open-air, 5G wireless test range focused exclusively on security testing, training and technology development. The range will be used by government, academic and industry collaborators. Although limited 5G service is available in selected cities across the country, widespread adoption is still years away.

  • Electric Planes Are Coming: Short-Hop Regional Flights Could Be Running on Batteries in a Few Years

    Electric planes might seem futuristic, but they aren’t that far off, at least for short hops. In the 2030s, experts say, electric aviation could really take off.

  • NIST, Google to Create New Supply of Chips for Researchers, Tech Startups

    NIST has signed a cooperative research and development agreement with Google to develop and produce chips that researchers can use to develop new nanotechnology and semiconductor devices. The cooperative research agreement aims to unleash innovation in the semiconductor and nanotechnology industries.

  • Cracking the Secrets to Earthquake Safety, One Shake Simulation at a Time

    A new experimental capability, designed to replicate realistic earthquakes in the laboratory, paired with the world’s fastest supercomputers, will help lead to resilient buildings and infrastructure across the U.S.

  • The WHO Has Advised Against the Use of Two Antibody Therapies Against COVID – Here’s What That Means

    New guidance from WHO strongly advises against using the antibody therapies sotrovimab and casirivimab-imdevimab to treat patients with COVID-19. This means that, at least for the time being, there are no recommended antibody therapies to treat COVID. There are, however, still other treatment options.

  • More Governments Use Spyware to Monitor Their People, Compromising Privacy

    The right to privacy is under siege as an increasing number of governments are using spyware to keep tabs on their people. Many governments are using modern digital networked technologies to monitor, control and oppress their populations.

  • EFF’s “Cover Your Tracks” Will Detect Your Use of iOS 16’s Lockdown Mode

    Apple’s new iOS 16 offers a powerful tool for its most vulnerable users. Lockdown Mode reduces the avenues attackers have to hack into users’ phones by disabling certain often-exploited features. But there is a catch.

  • The Inflation Reduction Act Is the Start of Reclaiming Critical Mineral Chains

    One important component of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), passed by Congress and signed into law by U.S. President Joe Biden on Aug. 16, has been largely overlooked. “Built within the IRA is a commitment to increasing the domestic U.S. supply of critical minerals—lithium, nickel, manganese, and graphite, among others—to provide the materials necessary for a vast expansion in electric vehicles (EVs), batteries, and renewable power production infrastructure,” Morgan Bazilian writes. “The United States needs more wind turbines, solar panels, and electric cars. But to make that possible, it will need more mines.”

  • U.S. Plans to Boost US Biotechnology Manufacturing

    The administration announced Monday steps to bolster the “bioeconomy” in the United States, a classification that covers research and development across a broad swath of products, including medical supplies, sustainable new fuels and food, as well as technologies meant to help fight climate change. The order comes barely a month after President Biden signed a major piece of legislation, the CHIPS Act, meant to supercharge U.S. manufacturing of semiconductors, an area in which the U.S. has lost its once-dominant global position.

  • A Retrospective Post-Quantum Policy Problem

    In May 2022, a White House memorandum warned that a quantum computer of sufficient size and sophistication will be capable of breaking much of the public-key cryptography used on digital systems across the United States and around the world. The various steps taken by the administration, and proposed by lawmakers, to deal with the problem are all forward-looking. “However, despite these efforts, policymakers have given little or no attention to what could be called a retrospectivepost-quantum problem,” Herb Lin writes. “Policymakers would be wise to consider the very real possibility that in a PQC[post-quantum computing] world, messages they once believed would be kept secret could in fact be made public.”

  • Identifying and Neutralizing New Explosive Threats

    The IED threats from insurgent characterized the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but now the U.S. military is focusing on neutralizing bombs and mines that it could face in future conflicts against more advanced adversaries. DSI October 2022 EOD/IED & Countermine Symposium will highlight current initiatives toward identifying and neutralizing explosive threats to the homeland and critical infrastructure.

  • New System Could Provide Early Warning of Whakaari Eruption Risk

    Kiwi volcanologists and engineers have finished testing an automated system that provides a warning when an eruption on Whakaari (White Island) becomes more likely.