• Deterring Terrorist Attacks in Sports Megaevents

    Large sports events – the Olympic Games, the Superbowl, the Soccer World Cup – are ideal targets for terrorists. What is the best method to identify the most effective defense measures to minimize the chances of a terrorist attack during a sports mega-event?

  • New Weapons Testing Capability Produces Richer Data, Saves Time, Cost

    A team of Sandia National Laboratories engineers developed a new testing capability in support of the lab’s nuclear weapons mission. The new weapons testing capability produces richer data, and saves time and cost. “Superfuge” test combines multiple environments on a full-scale weapons system.

  • Pegasus Project Shows the Need for Real Device Security, Accountability and Redress for those Facing State-Sponsored Malware

    It is no surprise that people around the world are angry to learn that surveillance software sold by NSO Group to governments has been found on cellphones worldwide. People all around the world deserve the right to have a private conversation. Communication privacy is a human right, a civil liberty, and one of the centerpieces of a free society. And while we all deserve basic communications privacy, the journalists, NGO workers, and human rights and democracy activists among us are especially at risk, since they are often at odds with powerful governments.

  • Spyware: Why the Booming Surveillance Tech Industry Is Vulnerable to Corruption and Abuse

    The latest revelations about NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware are the latest indication that the spyware industry is out of control, with licensed customers free to spy on political and civilian targets as well as suspected criminals. We may be heading to a world in which no phone is safe from such attacks.

  • Bringing the Jury to the Crime Scene Via a 3D Headset

    Delivering the correct verdict on car accident and murder cases is contingent on good spatial awareness, but short of being at the scene of the crime, jurors confined to the court room may be more prone to errors. Thanks to the advent of virtual reality (VR), jurors now have a better chance of making the right decision.

  • Growing Unease in Israel over Pegasus Case

    Israel is worried that the Pegasus spyware revelations may turn a PR black eye into a diplomatic crisis. Israel never exhibited any qualms about dealing with and selling arms to pretty unsavory regimes, but such deals were typically kept secret. The fact that the Israeli Ministry of Defense authorized the NSO Group to sell the Pegasus spyware to regimes which then used it to spy on opposition figures, civil society activists, and journalists – and, in the case of Saudi Arabia, to track Jamal Khashoggi and kill him — has raised questions about what did the government know and when did it know it.

  • Drone Popularity, Potential Risk Soar, So Too Should Preparedness

    Benign hobbyists often use drones, but these small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) can be exploited for any number of illegal activities, thereby posing a significant threat to facilities related to critical infrastructure and national security.

  • How Do We Prepare for Extreme Flooding?

    As the floodwaters recede following the devastating deluge in western Europe, survivors have begun the long, difficult process of cleaning up and rebuilding. But what can be done to reduce future risks?

  • The U.S. Army Tried Portable Nuclear Power at Remote Bases 60 Years Ago – It Didn’t Go Well

    The U.S. military’s Camp Century was a series of tunnels built into the Greenland ice sheet and used for both military research and scientific projects. The military boasted that the nuclear reactor there, known as the PM-2A, needed just 44 pounds of uranium to replace a million or more gallons of diesel fuel. Heat from the reactor ran lights and equipment and allowed the 200 or so men at the camp as many hot showers as they wanted in that brutally cold environment. The PM-2A was the third child in a family of eight Army reactors, several of them experiments in portable nuclear power.

  • Journalists, Activists among 50,000 Targets of Israeli Spyware: Reports

    Israeli cyber firm NSO Group claims that its Pegasus surveillance malware is sold to governments so they can better track terrorists and criminals, but many of the 45 governments deploying the surveillance software use it to track journalists, opposition politicians, and civil society activists. Some of these governments are authoritarian (for example, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, UAE, Saudi Arabia). Other are democracies (for example, India, Mexico, South Africa). The only EU member country to deploy the surveillance malware is Hungary, which places it in violation of the EU’s strict privacy and surveillance regulations.

  • Report from Europe’s Flood Zone: Researcher Calls Out Early Warning System Gridlock amid Shocking Loss of Life

    In my Ph.D. research, I study how we can effectively adapt to the consequences of increasing severe weather events under climate change and what can be done to prepare for them and mitigate their impact. One area I’m interested in is early warning systems, or the lack thereof, during extreme weather events, such as the recent floods in western Europe. While the climate is certainly a complex system that is difficult to predict with any certainty, the unfolding catastrophe is a sad reminder of just how inadequate early warning systems can be.

  • New Material Could Mean Lightweight Armor, Protective Coatings

    Researchers identified a new material that may lead to lightweight armor, protective coatings, blast shields, and other impact-resistant structures.

  • Can the Destructive Bootleg Fire Teach Us to Prevent Wildfires Before They Start?

    More and more, people are moving to less populous, woodland regions of the country, a phenomenon that puts more people in the path of potential wildfires and requires critical utilities such as power and water to be transported long distances from their origins. This creates a system of infrastructure that’s vulnerable to major disruptions—which is exactly what happened in the Bootleg fire.

  • Developing Cohesive, Domestic Rare Earth Element Technologies

    The U.S. has adequate domestic REE resources, but its supply chain is vulnerable due to dependence on foreign entities for separation and purification of these elements. DARPA program aims to fortify supply chain by utilizing bioengineering approaches to facilitate REE separation and purification.

  • Exploring Rare Earth Elements Opportunities

    The purified form of REE is primarily sourced from foreign nations, so the U.S. supply chain of the rare earth elements presents a problem. Justin Wilson, a Cornell chemistry professor, has received a DOE grant to develop more efficient methods of separating rare earth elements that will make their domestic availability economically viable.