• Assessment of Ocean Warming Highlights Future Climate Risks

    More than 90 percent of heat generated by global warming is absorbed by the oceans, and the Atlantic Ocean and southern oceans are warming much faster than the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean. A warmer ocean leads to more intense storms, more deadly rainfall and flooding, and more powerful typhoons and hurricanes.

  • Why Not Use Space Mirrors for Reflecting Sunlight to Cool the Planet?

    By Emmi Yonekura

    Given the potential consequences of climate change and a danger of reaching irreversible “tipping points,” there is an argument to be made that all options should be carefully considered. Sending giant mirrors into space to reflect solar radiation away from the Earth is one such option. The problem is that the many such geoengineering approaches have been so taboo that there is not enough information from researchers to definitively decide what options are still viable.

  • Signatures of Alien Technology Could Be How Humanity First Finds Extraterrestrial Life

    By Macy Huston and Jason Wright

    Technosignatures are signs of technology originating from beyond Earth. No astronomer has ever found a confirmed technosignature, so it’s hard to say what will be the first sign of alien civilizations. Many astronomers have thought a lot about what might make for a good signal, but ultimately, nobody knows what extraterrestrial technology might look like and what signals are out there in the Universe.

  • Seismic Shifts Underway in Global Semiconductor Market as U.S. Accelerates Decoupling from China

    By Jenny Wong-Leung

    Historically, the U.S. had the lion’s share of the global semiconductor industry (37 percent in 1990), but its dominance has been eroded by North Asian markets over the past three decades. In August, the administration committed to bolstering the U.S. semiconductor manufacturing sector with $50 billion in funding under the CHIPS and Science Act, with the potential to create 40,000 new jobs.

  • Washington Raises Stakes in War on Chinese Technology

    By Edward Alden

    The Biden administration is expanding its list of technology-focused sanctions on China, drawing parallels to U.S. controls targeting the Soviet Union during the Cold War – and the new U.S. sanctions are in some ways more restrictive than Cold-War era controls.

  • Searching for Critical Minerals

    The U.S. Geological Survey announced that, thanks to substantial funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, it will invest about $2.8 million to collect a large swath of geophysical data focusing on critical mineral resources in northeastern Washington State.

  • A Machine Learning-Based Solution May Help Firefighters Avoid Deadly Backdrafts

    A lack of oxygen can reduce even the most furious flame to smoldering ash. But when fresh air rushes in, say after a firefighter opens a window or door to a room, the blaze may be suddenly and violently resurrected. Researchers have devised a plan for informing firefighters of what dangers lie behind closed doors.

  • Method for Decoding Asteroid Interiors Could Help Aim Asteroid-Deflecting Missions

    By Jennifer Chu

    Knowing how the density is distributed inside an asteroid could help scientists plan the most effective defense. For instance, if an asteroid were made of relatively light and uniform matter, a DART-like spacecraft could be aimed differently than if it were deflecting an asteroid with a denser, less balanced interior. Astronomers have found a way to determine an asteroid’s interior structure based on how its spin changes during a close encounter with Earth.

  • Killer Robots Will Be Nothing Like the Movies Show—Here's Where the Real Threats Lie

    By Toby Walsh

    Killer robots won’t be sentient humanoid robots with evil intent. This might make for a dramatic storyline and a box office success, but such technologies are many decades, if not centuries, away. Indeed, contrary to recent fears, robots may never be sentient. It’s much simpler technologies we should be worrying about. And these technologies are starting to turn up on the battlefield today in places like Ukraine and Nagorno-Karabakh.

  • Improving Recovery of Critical Systems after Cyberattacks

    Researchers aim to develop fast, accurate and efficient recovery mechanisms that, when coupled with the expeditious damage assessment techniques he has already developed, will offer an “integrated suite solution.” This will allow affected CI systems to continue running while providing as many critical functionalities as possible.

  • Drone Piloting Proficiency Takes Flight with Certification Course

    Competent drone piloting is critical when lives are on the line; these devices are used in numerous law enforcement operations including search and rescue and counter IED (improvised explosive device) efforts.

  • China’s Challenge: Why the West Should Fear President Xi’s Quest to “Catch and Surpass It’ with Technology

    Beijing’s bid for technological dominance is a threat to global security and liberty. The Western democracies must not shirk the task of confronting it.

  • China Faces Major Challenges in Achieving Goal of Global Technological Pre-Eminence

    By Masaaki Yatsuzuka

    China has overtaken the United States to top the world in the number of high-quality scientific papers it is producing, and there has been a marked improvement in the quality of China’s scientific and technological development over the past two decades. But at the same time, China has attempted to become fully self-sufficient in core technologies – a policy which is creating its own dilemma: The more the Chinese leadership promotes self-sufficiency, the harder it will be to maintain an open-door policy—and to realize its dream of becoming a science and technology great power.

  • Hurricane Ian Shows That Coastal Hospitals Aren’t Ready for Climate Change

    By Daniel Chang and Lauren Sausser

    As rapidly intensifying storms and rising sea levels threaten coastal cities from Texas to the tip of Maine, Hurricane Ian has just demonstrated what researchers have warned: Hundreds of hospitals in the U.S. are not ready for climate change.

  • Extreme Heat Could Make Parts of Asia, Africa Uninhabitable

    Extreme heat events foreshadow a less habitable world. In the coming decades, heatwaves are predicted to meet and exceed human physiological and social limits in regions such as the Sahel, the Horn of Africa and South and South-West Asia.