• Stronger Security for Smart Devices

    Researchers are pushing to outpace hackers and develop stronger protections that keep data safe from malicious agents who would steal information by eavesdropping on smart devices. The researchers have demonstrated two security methods that efficiently protect analog-to-digital converters from powerful attacks that aim to steal user data.

  • Recovering Rare-Earth Elements from E-Waste

    DARPA has selected multiple teams of university researchers for the Recycling at the Point of Disposal (RPOD) program. RPOD will evaluate the technical feasibility of recovering multiple low-volume fraction critical elements present in end-of-life electronics hardware (e-waste). The project aims to redefine tech for distributed, small-footprint recycling of critical elements.

  • Dangerous Rescue Situations: Unmanned Vehicles Could Lead the Way

    First responders frequently encounter situations where an incident scene could be either potentially toxic, like an industrial accident, or physically dangerous, like a collapsed building or crumbling hillside. In these instances, the job still needs to get done, but performing it with an Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) or an Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV) will be as effective in accomplishing the search & rescue mission, but less risky for the first responders.

  • Challenge: Innovative Incident Command Dashboards for Public Safety

    NIST is launching a new prize competition to advance incident command dashboard technologies that would allow for real-time tracking of assets, personnel and objects of interest during emergency scenarios.

  • Add-on Benefits of Natural Defenses Against Sea-Level Rise

    Researchers modeled how investing in environmental conservation and protection can help San Mateo County, California, adapt to rising seas. The findings provide incentives for policymakers to prioritize nature-based approaches when planning for sea-level rise.

  • Addressing China’s Growing Influence over Latin America’s Mineral Resources

    The United States and its partners in the hemisphere must address a major strategic challenge: China’s growing influence over Latin America’s critical and natural mineral resources. Adina Renee Adler and Haley Ryan write that “Allowing a geostrategic competitor like China to wield disproportionate influence over access to critical minerals—or allowing production to become concentrated in a single geographic region—poses a serious risk to the United States and its allies.”

  • China Looks to Africa in Race for Lithium

    Electric cars, and other green technologies, are dependent on lithium, and growing demand has caused the prices for lithium to increase by almost 500 percent in the past year. Africa has ample resources of lithium, and China is leading the race to control the continent’s lithium resources.

  • Keeping Web-Browsing Data Safe from Hackers

    Studying a powerful type of cyberattack, researchers identified a flaw in how it’s been analyzed before, then developed new techniques that stop it in its tracks.

  • Iran Can Produce Nuclear Explosive Now, and 2 Bombs within One Month of a Breakout: IAEA

    The IAEA’s new report on Iran’s nuclear status says that Iran’s breakout timeline is now at zero. Iran has enough 60 percent enriched uranium – highly enriched uranium, or HEU — to be able to produce nuclear explosive. If it wanted to enrich the 60 percent HEU to 90 percent HEU —typically called weapon-grade uranium (WGU) — it could do so within weeks. Whether or not Iran enriches its HEU up to 90 percent, it can have enough HEU for two nuclear weapons within one month after starting breakout.

  • Protecting Nuclear Waste Containers from Metal-Corroding Microbes

    Canada has about three million bundles of used nuclear fuel, which contain the solid uranium that powers nuclear reactors. They’re stored in above-ground containers at seven facilities across the country, with 90,000 added every year. The containers only last about 50 to 100 years, but used nuclear fuel must be stored for one million years before its radiation levels return to that of naturally occurring uranium ore. Canada is getting closer to moving all its spent nuclear fuel to a single facility, and encasing each fuel container in bentonite clay, and researchers are studying whether that clay could support microbial life – which could eat away at the metal containers.

  • Sustainable Solution for Oil, Gas Wastewater

    As demand for new energy sources grows, the wastewater co-produced alongside oil and gas (produced water) shows no signs of slowing down: The current volume of wastewater - the result of water forced underground to fracture rock and release the deposits - is estimated at 250 million barrels per day, compared to 80 million barrels per day of oil. Engineers are developing a new way to clean the produced water for reuse, and it’s already being tested in Pennsylvania, Texas and North Dakota.

  • Randomly Moving Electrons Can Improve Cybersecurity

    Researchers have developed a record-breaking true random number generator (TRNG), which can improve data encryption and provide improved security for sensitive digital data such as credit card details, passwords and other personal information.

  • Israel Sets to Deploy Laser Weapons to Counter Missiles, Rockets, and Drones

    Laser weapons have long been the stuff of science fiction films and video games, but the last few years saw more and more laser system developed and deployed. Israel says it has successfully tested an effective, and cost-effective, solid-state laser weapon that can shoot down missiles, rockets, mortars, and drone – and a cost of about $3.50 per kill.

  • The Pandemic: Implications for Terrorist Interest in Biological Weapons

    What if the IS or al-Qaeda obtained and spread a highly contagious virus in a community or country that they sought to punish? With the pandemic highlighting weaknesses in response efforts, will these groups now seek to obtain infectious viruses to achieve these same deadly results?

  • Groundwater Depletion Causes California Farmland to Sink

    A new study simulates 65 years of land subsidence, or sinking, caused by groundwater depletion in California’s San Joaquin Valley. The results suggest significant sinking may continue for centuries after water levels stop declining but could slow within a few years if aquifers recover.