• Limiting world trade unlikely to reduce CO2 emissions

    The United States emits less CO2 in the production of its exports than is contained in its imports, simply because it imports more than it exports; only about 20 percent of CO2 transfers from China into the United States can be traced back to the fact that China is in effect relatively more specialized in the production of dirty goods; interventions in world trade, like CO2 tariffs, would probably have only a small impact on global emissions

  • Lessons learned: Cheech and Chong at the Y-12 security breach

    On 28 July 2012, an 82-year old nun and her two confederates — both senior citizens themselves – breached the vaunted and supposedly impregnable perimeter protection system at the Y-12 National Security Complex at Oak Ridge, where uranium for nuclear weapons is processed and stored (the Y-12 complex is not affiliated with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory [ORNL]); a report on the incident by the Inspector General of the Department of Energy is couched in bureaucratic jargon, but it reveals that the Y-12 security system and practices were much worse than Cheech and Chong could have ever portrayed in their wildest stand-up comedy routines or loopy films

  • New law aims to make Istanbul earthquake-safe, but it has its critics

    Estimates of Istanbul’s population range from twelve and nineteen million people, a significant increase from two million people fiftyyears ago; during the waves of migration to Istanbul during the 1960s,1970s, and 1980s, the government gave citizens free permitsto add to their homes, which resulted in single-story residents becoming 4-or 5-story buildings on unstable foundations; Istanbul sits only thirteen miles north of the North Anatolian Fault, the intersection of the Eurasian and Anatolian plates, and has been subject to devastating earthquakes; new, controversial law aims to make Istanbul’s buildings earthquake-safe

  • Boeing to pursue cybersecurity opportunities in Japan

    Boeing and Japanese trading company Sojitz are teaming up to offer advanced cybersecurity solutions in Japan to help protect critical government, civil, and commercial information technology infrastructure

  • Nexans shows its anti-theft cable solutions

    Nexans is showing its new anti-theft cable solutions at InnoTrans, which opened yesterday in Berlin; the solution promises to help network operators reduce the high volume of copper cables theft along their railway networks

  • Hurricane Isaac tests Loyola University's emergency response plans

    In the days following Hurricane Isaac’s slow march across south Louisiana, Loyola University New Orleans administrators have been reviewing their response with a critical eye to ensure emergency preparations continue to evolve and meet the demands of each situation; beginning Tuesday, 28 August, New Orleans felt the first of Isaac’s high winds and heavy rains – but Loyola University was ready

  • Next generation of advanced climate models needed

    From farmers deciding which crops to plant next season, to mayors preparing for possible heat waves, to insurance companies assessing future flood risks, to those responsible for infrastructure protection having to decide how best to use scarce resource to mitigate climate change-induced disasters, an array of stakeholders from the public and private sectors rely on and use climate information; the U.S. National Research Council says he U.S. collection of climate models should advance substantially to deliver more detailed, smaller scale climate projections

  • Urchin-loving otters can help fight global warming

    A thriving sea otter population that keeps sea urchins in check will in turn allow kelp forests to prosper; the spreading kelp can absorb as much as twelve times the amount of CO2 from the atmosphere than if it were subject to ravenous sea urchins

  • Protecting buildings from earthquakes by hiding them

    Engineers have come up with an inventive and exciting idea for protecting buildings from earthquakes: hide them (the buildings, that is); the engineers say that placing specialized rubber under the building would diverts certain temblor shock waves, leaving the building virtually untouched by them

  • Crack-resistant components for bridges, roof structures, cars

    Bridges, roof structures, cars, and more should become increasingly lighter, with the same stability, and thus save energy and materials; the new high-strength steel is superbly suited for the needed lightweight design because it can also withstand extremely heavy stresses; yet these materials also have a disadvantage: with increasing strength, their susceptibility to cold cracking rises when welded; cracks are difficult to predict — until now

  • Destroyed coastal habitats produce significant amounts of greenhouse gas

    Destruction of coastal habitats may release as much as one billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere each year, ten times higher than previously reported; a new analysis provides the most comprehensive estimate of global carbon emissions from the loss of these coastal habitats to date: 0.15 to 1.2 billion tons; it suggests there is a high value associated with keeping these coastal-marine ecosystems intact as the release of their stored carbon costs roughly $6-$42 billion annually

  • DHS funds more tests of autonomous power buoy for ocean surveillance

    Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) has entered into an agreement with DHS Science & Technology Directorate to perform a new round of in-ocean tests on the company’s Autonomous PowerBuoy to demonstrate its use for ocean surveillance

  • Cloud OS for the U.S. intelligence community

    Cloud management specialist Adaptive Computingis partnering with the investment arm of the CIA, In-Q-Tel, to develop a cloud operating system for use by U.S. intelligence agency

  • Coastline erosion due to rise in sea level greater than previously thought

    The effects of coastline erosion as a result of rising sea-level rise can be measured by acceptable engineering tools, but such an erosion in the vicinity of inlets, such as river estuaries, has until now been underestimated – and more difficult to calculate; scientists have develop a new model to calculate this more complex erosion, making a valuable contribution to coastal management, planning, and infrastructure protection

  • Many of the U.S. 20 million manholes are in need of immediate rehabilitation or replacement

    The EPA estimates that there are about twenty million manholes in the United States – or one manhole for every 400 feet of pavement on average; many of those manholes are in serious decay or in need of immediate rehabilitation or replacement