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Trains carrying hazmat collide in Minnesota
At least 40 cars were derailed and some went into the Mississippi River in an early morning crash in southeast Minnesota; liquid ammonia and propane are leaking from some of the cars
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Getting the coming investment in infrastructure right
America 2050 issues blueprint for infrastructure investment; guiding principles: Fix, Phase, Green, Train, Count
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Experts call for establishing near-earth asteroid surveillance network
Scientists have identified almost 6,000 near-earth objects (NEOs) whose orbits intersect with the Earth’s; five-hundred to 1,000 NEOs have a diameter of over 150 kilometers
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U.K. project examines the idea of a nuclear-powered passenger aircraft
As worries about the rising price of oil and climate change grow, so grows the interest in nuclear power — but not only for ground-based power generation; a U.K. government-funded project examines the idea of nuclear-powered passenger plane
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Sun's growing brightness a threat to Earth
The Sun is slowly getting brighter and warmer; in seven billion years it will engulf Earth — but much sooner, in 1.1 billion years, the Sun will grow 11 percent brighter, raising average terrestrial temperatures to around 50 °C, causing oceans to evaporate; the solution: move Earth away from the Sun
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China quake forces rethink over hazard maps
Following the Sichuan earthquake, in which more than 65,000 people died, researchers say that similar regions may also be in danger and that seismic hazard maps should be redrawn
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New analysis of earthquake zone raises questions
Oregon State University researchers offer a new analysis of an earthquake fault line that extends some 200 miles off the southern and central Oregon coast that they say is more active than the San Andreas Fault in California
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Can New York City's infrastructure handle climate change's consequences?
Mayor Michael Bloomberg sets up a panel of experts to examine whether NYC can cope with flooded subway tunnels, rising sea levels, intense heat, and other consequences of climate change
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Evidence of acid rain supports meteorite theory of Tunguska catastrophe
There are many theories about the source of the mysterious 1908 explosion in Siberia, an explosion which leveled more than 80 million trees over an area of more than 2,000 square kilometers; presence of acid rain lends support to one of them
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AMEC-led consortium to clean up Sellafield
Treating and cleaning nuclear waste is part and parcel of nuclear power generation; The U.K. government, a proponent of greater reliance on nuclear power, takes steps to deal with legacy waste problems
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GAO strongly criticizes DoE over Hanford clean-up
More than 210 million liters of radioactive and chemical waste are stored in 177 underground tanks at Hanford in Washington State; most are more than fifty years old; GAO says there now “serious questions about the tanks’ long-term viability”
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Cow backpacks trap methane gas
Argentina has more than 55 million cows, making it a leading producer of beef; a standard 550 kg cow produces between 800 to 1,000 liters of emissions, including methane, each day; scientists: “Thirty percent of Argentina’s (total greenhouse) emissions could be generated by cattle”
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Impinj acquires Intel's RFID assets
Intel’s New Business Initiatives (NBI) incubator helped develop the award-winning R1000 RFID reader chip, which integrates onto a single chip 90 percent of the components required for a reader radio; Impinj acquires the R1000 reader chip
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Debate over environmental impact of border fence continues
The San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area is part of the U.S.-Mexico border, and all agree that the area’s ecosystem is particularly delicate; DHS wants to build a fence there, but environmentalists object
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German-Japanese collaboration on carbon dioxide recovery
Mitsubishi, E.ON to test a system which recovers carbon dioxide from flue-gas emissions at a coal-fired power plant in Germany
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More headlines
The long view
How Climate Change Will Affect Conflict and U.S. Military Operations
“People talk about climate change as a threat multiplier,” said Karen Sudkamp, an associate director of the Infrastructure, Immigration, and Security Operations Program within the RAND Homeland Security Research Division. “But at what point do we need to start talking about the threat multiplier actually becoming a significant threat all its own?”