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Stuck Bridges, Buckling Roads − Extreme Heat Is Wreaking Havoc on America’s Aging Infrastructure
Summer 2024’s record heat is creating problems for transportation infrastructure, from roads to rails. It doesn’t help that the worsening heat is hitting a U.S. infrastructure system that’s already in trouble.
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Hybrid System Would Create New ‘Backbone’ for Internet in Space
A new NATO-funded effort seeks to make the internet less vulnerable by rerouting its flow of information to space in the event that the underwater cables that transmit the world’s communications are attacked or accidentally severed.
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Venezuelan Crisis Has Negatively Affected Country's Internet
“Modern services cannot run properly,” researcher says. New study examines Venezuela’s connectivity landscape over the past decade. Due to the crisis, Venezuela’s Internet infrastructure has deteriorated. Researchers found Internet speeds in Venezuela are approximately 10% of the regional average.
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The Case for Climate-Resilient Infrastructure
Climate change is making weather harder to predict, and creating new risks in places that never faced them before. And as hurricanes, floods, extreme heat and wildfires intensify, most infrastructure will need to be retrofitted or designed and built anew for future climate resilience.
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France Investigates 'Massive Attack' on Fast Train Network
French intelligence is working to identify who is behind acts of intentional vandalism on several high-speed rail routes. The incidents, which have led to a disruption, come ahead of the opening of the Paris Olympics.
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It Is Time to Act
There is, in a basic sense, nothing new to be said about the global computer outage of the week just pas, Dan Geer writes, so the time to act is now. “If we choose to act on what we know, then we also know that security policy and competition policy are henceforth conjoined. We cannot and will not have zero cascade failures if any tech is allowed to become universal, to become a monopoly in its sphere.”
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Nationwide Flood Models Poorly Reflect Risks to Households and Properties, Study Finds
Government agencies, insurance companies and disaster planners rely on national flood risk models from the private sector that aren’t reliable at smaller levels such as neighborhoods and individual properties.
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Massive IT Outage Spotlights Major Vulnerabilities in the Global Information Ecosystem
The global information technology outage on July 19, 2024, that paralyzed organizations ranging from airlines to hospitals and even the delivery of uniforms for the Olympic Games represents a growing concern for cybersecurity professionals, businesses and governments.
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From Iron Dome to Cyber Dome: Defending Israel’s Cyberspace
In response to growing attacks against its infrastructure by formidable adversaries like Iran and its proxies, Israel recently announced that they are building a ‘cyber-dome’ or a digital ‘Iron Dome’ system to protect Israel’s cyberspace to defend against online attacks.
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Climate Change Has Forced America’s Oldest Black Town to Higher Ground
Princeville, North Carolina, is relocating with help from a new federal grant. Hurricane Matthew, which submerged the town under more than 10 feet of water, was the final straw. The town has just received millions of dollars in new funding from FEMA to build a new site on higher ground.
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Nature-Based Solutions to Disaster Risk from Climate Change Are Cost Effective
Nature-based solutions (NbS) are an economically effective method to mitigate risks from a range of disasters—from floods and hurricanes to heatwaves and landslides—which are only expected to intensify as Earth continues to warm.
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Why Chinese Technology Set Off Alarm Bells in Germany
Even as the German government moves to bar components made by China’s Huawei and ZTE from core parts of the country’s 5G networks, some German companies are looking to work with Chinese firms in other critical areas.
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Transformers: Cooler Side of the Grid
Failures in transformers cause widespread disruptions across electrical networks, severely affecting grid stability. The financial impact of such failures often goes beyond just the cost of replacing the transformer. Simulations on NSF-funded Stampede2 provide models for a resilient and sustainable electric grid.
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Tornadoes Are Deadly. These New Building Codes Will Save Lives.
Because of its unique geography, the United States has more tornadoes, and more intense tornadoes, than any other country. Tornadoes are deadly, but until recently there were no building codes designed to protect communities from tornadoes. Tornado winds push and pull on buildings in unique ways that require special safety designs. NIST research led to the first building code provision for tornado resilience.
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Disaster Recovery: What Community-Driven Relocation Could Look Like
Over the past forty years, the Gulf Region has experienced devastating hurricanes and flooding, costing 232 billion dollars. The gut reaction after any disaster is to rebuild and protect-in-place, but sometimes communities have to consider relocation — but the conversations around rebuilding versus relocation continue to be challenging for policymakers and the communities impacted by disasters.
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The long view
Helping Strengthen America’s Critical Infrastructure
Everyday life depends on a robust infrastructure network that provides access to running water, communications technology and electricity, among other basic necessities. The experts who keep our national infrastructure secure and resilient also need a strong network to share their knowledge and train the next generation of professionals capable of solving complex infrastructure challenges.
AI and the Future of the U.S. Electric Grid
Despite its age, the U.S. electric grid remains one of the great workhorses of modern life. Whether it can maintain that performance over the next few years may determine how well the U.S. competes in an AI-driven world.