• Some geo-engineering approaches to combat climate change may not work

    Numerous geo-engineering schemes have been suggested as possible ways to reduce levels of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and so reduce the risk of global warming and climate change; one such technology involves dispersing large quantities of iron salts in the oceans to fertilize otherwise barren parts of the sea and trigger the growth of algal blooms and other photosynthesizing marine life; seeding the oceans with iron, however, may not address carbon emissions

  • City is sued over ban on fracking

    An industry group representing oil and gas companies filed a lawsuit Monday against a city in Colorado which has banned hydraulic fracturing; fracking has increased U.S. energy production, but it has also caused contamination of ground water; scientists say fracking may also cause earthquakes

  • Sandy relief bill says rebuilding effort should take into consideration climate-related risks

    The $60 billion Sandy relief bill being debated this week in the Senate does not specifically mention the words climate change or global warming, but it implicitly raises topics and themes which are part of the climate change discussion; the bill says that federal, state, and local agencies engaged in the post-Sandy rebuilding effort should take into consideration “future extreme weather events, sea level rise and coastal flooding”

  • A 1978 NY state law requiring updated emergency preparedness plans largely ignored

    In 1978, a New York state law was passed which required that annually updated plans for the restoration of vital services in the event of a major storm; in the three decades since, the law has been largely ignored due to tight budgets and politicians unwilling to prepare for a storm which may or may not hit

  • To keep global average temperature from rising above 2°C, action should be taken by 2020

    Limiting climate change to target levels will become much more difficult to achieve, and more expensive, if action is not taken soon, according to a new analysis; a new study explores technological, policy, and social changes that would need to take place in the near term in order to keep global average temperature from rising above 2°C, a target supported by more than 190 countries as a global limit to avoid dangerous climate change

  • New view of meteorite impact

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    High-speed video of projectiles slamming into a bed of disks has given scientists a new microscopic picture of the way a meteorite or missile transfers the energy of its impact to sand and dirt grains; the research may change the way scientists model meteorite and missile impacts and their effects

  • Sandy exposes weaknesses of antiquated sewage systems in N.Y., N.J.

    Hurricane Sandy destroyed homes, apartments, and entire communities, and it also exposed the outdated sewage systems in New York and New Jersey; since Hurricane Sandy, millions of gallons of raw sewage have infiltrated waterways in both states, and it could take several years and billions of dollars to fix the systems; New York governor Andrew Cuomo estimated that it will cost about $1.1 billion to repair treatment plants; officials in the field say that much more will have to be done

  • Cybersecurity company using hackers own devices against them

    A California cybersecurity start-up, marketing itself as a private cyber intelligence agency, works to identify foreign attackers who are attempting to steal corporate secrets; it does so by  using the attackers’ own techniques and vulnerabilities against them; the company also collects data on hackers and tricks intruders into stealing false information

  • Expert show how to crack every common password in under six hours

    GPU computing has improved considerably in recent years, and Jeremi Gosney, founder and CEO of Stricture Consulting Group, used a 25-GPU cluster that can run through 350 billion guesses per second to show how easy it would be to crack practically any password out there (easy, that is, if you can use a 25-GPU cluster )

  • Engineers to build Australia’s first bushfire resistant straw house

    With Australia’s bushfire season fast approaching, construction of the first bushfire resistant straw bale house tested by engineers from CSIRO has begun in rural Victoria; the house is based on design principles that minimize environmental impact and it is set to withstand temperatures equal to that of a worst case bushfire scenario

  • Helping communities resist wildfires

    In the ten years since 2002, an annual average of nearly 71,000 wildfires near structures and other human development were recorded and 1.9 million hectares (4.7 million acres) burned; federal agencies spend an average of $1.2 billion per year on the suppression of these fires, with state and local agencies contributing millions more

  • Target of limiting global warming to 2°C recedes as CO2 emissions grow

    A new report shows that global CO2 emissions have increased by 58 percent since 1990, rising 3 percent in 2011, and 2.6 percent in 2012; the most recent figure is estimated from a 3.3 percent growth in global gross domestic product and a 0.7 percent improvement in the carbon intensity of the economy; these latest carbon dioxide emission figures continue to track at the high end of a range of emission scenarios, expanding the gap between current trends and the course of mitigation needed to keep global warming below 2°C

  • City officials debate proposals for sea walls to protect New York from storms

    Since Hurricane Sandy ripped through the northeast, many people have had to decide what to do with their damaged homes; now elected officials in New York must decide how to protect coastal areas around the city from being run over by storms in the future; New York officials are now proposing similar projects, including a $16 billion barrier for New York Bay, which was proposed by City Council president Christie Quinn

  • Improved research tools helped predict impact of last week’s Japan earthquake

    On 11 March 2011, a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunami that slammed into northeastern Japan killed or left missing some 19,000 people, devastating much of the coast; lessons were learned, and improved computational models helped in more accurately predicting the impact of a strong earthquake near Japan last Friday

  • Testing new wind energy turbine

    An offshore wind test turbine has been erected behind the University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites Center on campus to evaluate sensor systems and controls in preparation for the installation of a floating turbine in the Gulf of Maine this spring as part of the DeepCwind Consortium project