• Intensifying search for solutions to food safety problem

    Solutions to the food safety problem fall into two broad categories: government-mandated reforms and reforms generated by the food industry itself; the three major recommendations for government action: Creating a food-supervision superagency; giving the FDA mandatory food recall authority; and tightening supervision of imported food

  • Global patent explosion threatens patent regulatory system

    Global hunger for inventions and new technologies sparks an explosion in patent applications, threatening to swamp the system responsible for dealing with them; another problem: Massive, systematic Chinese campaign, encouraged by the Chinese government, to steal Western trade secrets and violate intellectual property rules

  • Generation ID: Worries about kiddyprinting

    There is Generation X and Generation Y; now there is Generation ID: Thousands of children across the U.K. have had their fingerprints and DNA taken without explicit informed parental consent; children — and privacy — advocates say this is dangerous

  • FBI asks U.K., other countries to participate in U.S. terror database

    The FBI’s Server in the Sky project would allow countries to search and swap biometric data on some of the world’s most wanted criminals; project is similar to the EU’s Prüm Treaty

  • FBI in a $1 billion effort to build world's largest biometric database

    FBI servers occupy an underground facility the size of two football fields; the organization’s database now contains 55 million digital prints; the plan is not only to increase this number, but also add palm patterns, iris patterns, face shapes, scars, and data on people’s voices and walking patterns

  • Top 10 overseas security trends for the U.S. private sector in 2007

    Advisory group says theft of trade secrets (did somebody say China?), cyber attacks, and home-grown radicalism were among the major 2007 threats to U.S. businesses operating abroad — and that 2008 will see intensification of these threats

  • U.S., U.K., China, and Russia are "endemic surveillance societies"

    Respected annual report ranking countries on privacy protection gave the four nations the lowest possible rating; concern over terrorism, immigration, and border control continue to erode privacy and increase surveillance

  • Energy bill to save U.S. more than $400 billion between now and 2030

    The energy efficiency portions of the energy bill which passed the Senate save U.S. consumers and businesses more than $400 billion between now and 2030; this is triple the savings from legislation passed by Congress in 2005

  • Budget cuts threaten Fermilab's viability

    Fermilab’s 2008 budget will be 17 percent smaller than the 2007 budget; 200 of its 1,900 scientists will be laid off next month; NOνA’s neutrino experiment, Tevatron collider, other programs to be halted; one scientist says: “Effectively, Fermilab is put on a glide-path to shut down after 2011”

  • House backs TRIA version broader than one favored by Senate, White House

    House backs a slimmer version of Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) — but this version is still broader than the one favored by the Senate and White House; TRIA will expire on 31 December unless renewed, and insurance companies, big cities are increasingly anxious

  • U.K. government promotes commercialization of innovative technology

    The U.K. government and a couple of research associations are seeking bids from universities interested in hosting new Innovation and Knowledge Centers (IKCs); each center will be funded with £9.5 million spread over five years

  • Sale of controlled technology to China brings two years

    China is engaging in a broad effort to obtain Western technology, and has instructed its intellignece agencies to engage in industrial espionage in the West; a California resident is sentenced to two years in prison for selling China night-vision cameras

  • Foreign investment boosts U.S. economy

    Last year the United States attracted $180 billion in foreign direct investment; U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies employ 5.1 million Americans with a payroll of $336 billion; this translates into annual average worker compensation of $66,042 — well above the national average; one analyst argues that we should not allow protectionist sentiments and misplaced security concerns disrupt this contribution to the U.S. economy

  • U.S. teens lag behind in science and math

    U.S. teenagers continue to fall behind students from other industrialized countries in science and math; tests conducted among students in the 30 industrialized OECD countries place U.S. students at 23rd in math and 17th in science; when compared to tests conducted among students from two dozen non-industrialized countries, U.S. students fell in the middle of the pack in science and did somewhat worse in math

  • DHS's inspector general to take a close look at FEMA

    IG predicts that the number of FEMA investigations outnumber those planned for any of the ten other DHS divisions; for 2008, the IG plans to produce 173 management reports — 53 on FEMA and 31 on the department’s management division