• Protecting Computer Vision from Adversarial Attacks

    Advances in computer vision and machine learning have made it possible for a wide range of technologies to perform sophisticated tasks with little or no human supervision — from autonomous drones and self-driving cars to medical imaging and product manufacturing. Engineers are developing methods to keep these autonomous machines and devices from being hacked.

  • Rare Earths in Australia Must Be About More Than Mining

    REEs are a group of 17 metals—15 elements from the lanthanide series and two chemically similar elements, scandium and yttrium. Each has unique properties vital for a range of commercial and defense technologies, including batteries, high-powered magnets and electronic equipment. China’s rare-earth production exceeds that of the world’s second-largest producer, the U.S., by more than 100,000 tons per year. The U.S. still relies on China for most rare-earth imports. In some cases, like heavy REE processing, China has 100 percent control of the market.

  • Protecting the Coastline

    Barrier islands protect the coastline from storms, storm surge, waves and flooding. They can act as a buffer between the ocean and beachfront property. But as sea level rises, barrier islands retreat, or move closer toward the shore, which diminishes the buffer and protection. Oceanographers develop new model to better predict barrier island retreat.

  • Hurricane-Resilient Wind Turbines -- Inspired by Palm Trees

    Today’s offshore wind turbines can tower more than 490 feet above ground, their spinning blades churning out up to 8 megawatts (MW) each—about enough to power 4,000 homes in the U.S. But with their increasing size comes challenges. To make those turbines more hurricane-resilient, scientists are taking a cue from nature.

  • The Chinese Military’s Access to AI Chips

    The Chinese military has made rapid progress in artificial intelligence. This progress largely depends on continued access to high-end semiconductors designed by American companies and produced in Taiwan and South Korea. The aggressive moves by the Trump and Biden administrations to limit technology exports to the Chinese military notwithstanding, China continues to order large quantities of American-designed advanced semiconductors from manufacturers in Taiwan and South Korea.

  • Climate Models May Underestimate Future Floods

    Climate models may be significantly underestimating how extreme precipitation will become in response to a rise in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, a new study finds. It all comes down to raindrop physics, says one researcher: Even a slight change in the percentage of each falling raindrop to reach the Earth’s surface can mean the difference between a climate of light drizzles and one that creates unprecedented deluges.

  • To Reach the Public, Highlight the Health Implications of Climate Change: Expert

    Among the health effects of climate change: Increases in extreme heat can lead to more heat-related illness and death from heat stroke and dehydration. Poor air quality can cause more lung infections, asthma and allergy attacks, bronchitis, and deaths. Rising temperatures can also increase the geographic range of disease-carrying insects and animals, resulting in faster and wider spread of diseases like Zika virus. Rising temperatures and extreme weather conditions make it easier for food and water to become contaminated by bacteria, viruses, parasites, and other toxins.

  • Collapsed Bridge Helps Inform Future Flood-Resistant Designs

    In 2018, an unprecedented flooding collapsed the Misasa Railroad Bridge, some nine miles inland from Japan’s western coast. Such infrastructure failures will continue to increase as weather events become more extreme. But we can learn optimal design needs from the catastrophic problem of failed structures.

  • NIST Announces First Four Quantum-Resistant Cryptographic Algorithms

    NIST has chosen the first group of encryption tools that are designed to withstand the assault of a future quantum computer, which could potentially crack the security used to protect privacy in the digital systems we rely on every day — such as online banking and email software.

  • Exploring Explosives for Expanding Geothermal Energy

    Geothermal energy 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 challenges to wide adoption. Sandia researchers test explosives and propellants to create geothermal power sites.

  • Water Scarcity Drives EU Countries to Restrict Access to Drinking Water

    Climate change is making itself felt across the continent, as severe droughts and scarce rain have forced water restrictions in southern European countries. In northern Italy, more than 100 cities and towns have imposed water consumption limits on residents.

  • Winners Announced in DHS $195K Challenge to Counter Extreme Temperatures

    DHS announced the winners of the Cooling Solutions Challenge prize competition. The winners were each awarded funding, which totaled $195,000, for their innovative and creative ideas that sought climate-friendly cooling solutions to protect people in extreme heat conditions.

  • Unprecedented Change in Europe’s Fire Regime Driven by Climate Change

    A new study reveals an unprecedented change in the fire regime in Europe which is related to climate change. The study detected summer and spring seasons with unprecedented values of fire risks over the last years, so many areas of southern Europe and the Mediterranean are reaching extreme conditions conducive to fires.

  • How Does the U.S. Power Grid Work?

    Responsible for powering the country and its economy, the U.S. energy grid has come under increasing strain due to climate change, and the threat of cyberattacks looms. The U.S. electric grid brings power to millions of homes and businesses via a vast network of transmission and distribution lines. Experts say the grid is increasingly vulnerable to extreme weather events, such as the February 2021 Texas winter storms, and cyberattacks. President Biden has proposed overhauling the grid, but his plans could face legal and political hurdles.

  • Researchers Simulate Defense of the Earth

    Sixty-six million years ago, a giant asteroid impact on the Earth likely caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. Currently no known asteroid poses an immediate threat. But if one day a large asteroid were to be discovered on a collision course with Earth, it might have to be deflected from its trajectory to prevent catastrophic consequences.