• Slowing down sea-level rise vs. reducing surface temperature change rate

    Scientists say that reducing the amount of solar radiation hitting Earth (for example, by satellites that block the sun, making the Earth’s surface more reflective, or emulating the effects of volcanoes by placing aerosol particles in the upper atmosphere) would be a cheaper way to halt or reverse climate change than reducing carbon dioxide emissions

  • Water pumps and terrorism-related information sharing systems

    With thousands of local law enforcement agencies, critical infrastructure operators, and concerned citizens reporting suspicious incidents, Homeland Security officials are inundated with data; effectively sorting through that information is a problem, as was illustrated last November by a report that a water pump at an Illinois water utility was broken by Russian hackers; the preliminary report caused panic about U.S. infrastructure vulnerability, but ultimately proved incorrect; it took more than a week for federal investigators to reach its conclusion, showing DHS ongoing problems with streamlining information sharing processes with its Fusion Centers

  • Stuxnet and Duqu part of assembly line: researchers

    Stuxnet, the highly sophisticated piece of malicious code that was the first to cause physical damage, could just be the tip of the iceberg in a massive cyberweapon manufacturing operation; according to cybersecurity researchers at Kaspersky Labs and Symantec, Stuxnet appears to be part of a larger cybersecurity weapons program with fully operational and easily modified malicious code that can be aimed at different targets with minimal costs or effort

  • Digital images used to prevent bridge failures

    A new/old method has been developed to assure the safety of hundreds of truss bridges across the United States; researchers have been testing the use of a thoroughly modern version of an old technique — photographic measurement or “photogrammetry” — to watch the failure of a key bridge component in exquisite detail

  • New Orleans flood defense system nears completion

    The Army Corps of Engineers is rapidly nearing the completion of its upgrades to the massive levee and flood defense system designed to protect the greater New Orleans area from another Hurricane Katrina

  • ETrade cyberattack shuts down trading

    Over the holiday season, Australia’s second-largest online brokering service, ANZ Bank’s ETrade was hit by a series of cyberattacks, temporarily locking out customers

  • Connecticut examines ways to bolster electrical grid during disasters –

    Following Tropical Storm Irene and the29 October nor’easter that left thousands of homes without power across the northeast, Connecticut is considering new regulations that could bolster the power grid and improve resiliency during natural disasters

  • California’s flood-protection system crumbling

    California has a patchwork of aging flood-protection system; it was built over the last 150 years by individuals, localities, and the state government; experts say this system, now protecting an estimated $69 billion in assets, is woefully inadequate

  • SF Bay wetlands losing battle against sea level rise

    San Francisco Bay’s tidal marshes protect coastlines against flooding, provide nursery areas for commercial fisheries and filter pollutants from seawater and the atmosphere; these marshes may face a grave threat from sea level rise in the next century

  • California lawmakers work to improve utilities’ disaster preparedness

    California lawmakers are considering a bill to better prepare public utilities for emergencies and disasters following a series of severe storms that left thousands without power across the state

  • Wireless sensors effective in protecting critical infrastructure

    A key to critical infrastructure security is effective monitoring of such infrastructure; a European research project has now successfully demonstrated a wireless sensor-based solution for cost-effective monitoring of electricity distribution networks and water networks

  • Predators may have contributed to 2007 Wall Street collapse

    A new study retraces events to show that at a critical point in the financial crisis, the stock of Citigroup was attacked by traders by selling borrowed stock (short-selling) which may have caused others to sell in panic; the subsequent price drop enabled the attackers to buy the stock back at a much lower price

  • Fukushima reaches cold shutdown conditions, critics scoff

    Last week Japanese officials declared that the beleaguered Fukushima Daiichi power plant had become stable enough for engineers to complete a “cold shutdown”; officials also stated that the facility had ceased to leak substantial amounts of radiation, a claim received skeptically by critics

  • Building earthquake-proof buildings

    Researchers in Australia are leading an international project to help identify buildings most vulnerable to earthquakes and the best ways to strengthen them

  • Improving pothole repairs

    The alarming increase in the number of road potholes in the United Kingdom — an outcome of reduced road maintenance, increasing traffic volumes, heavier loads, and repeated adverse weather — is creating potentially hazardous driving conditions, causing serious concerns to the authorities as well as to the public; engineers are looking foe ways to improve pothole repairs