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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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Scientists Call for ‘Major Initiative’ to Study Whether Geoengineering Should Be Used on Glaciers
A group of scientists has released a landmark report on glacial geoengineering—an emerging field studying whether technology could halt the melting of glaciers and ice sheets as climate change progresses. Their report finds many questions remain around technology to address glacier melting and sea-level rise.
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Future Climate Change Will Impact Opportunities for Prescribed Fires
Prescribed burning is one of the most effective tools to prevent catastrophic fires. Some locations in the United States are facing a future where safe conditions to burn are fewer and farther between.
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To Guard Against Cyberattacks in Space, Researchers Ask ‘What If?’
If space systems such as GPS were hacked and knocked offline, much of the world would instantly be returned to the communications and navigation technologies of the 1950s. Yet space cybersecurity is largely invisible to the public at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions.
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Startup Aims to Transform the Power Grid with Superconducting Transmission Lines
VEIR, founded by alumnus Tim Heidel, has developed technology that can move more power over long distances, with the same footprint as traditional lines.
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Countering Coercion: Australia Must Engage with Allies on Critical Minerals Supply
China’s use of coercion to control critical mineral mining and processing projects, their output and even whole supply chains has motivated several countries to take increasingly strong measures to secure alternative supply chains. Meanwhile, China’s state-linked companies continue to use multiple channels to manipulate markets at scale.
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Beach Erosion Will Make Southern California Coastal Living Five Times More Expensive by 2050: Study
The region’s sandy coastlines are vanishing at an alarming rate. It’s a warning sign for coastal communities worldwide, USC research suggests.
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As Reservoirs Go Dry, Mexico City and Bogotá Are Staring Down ‘Day Zero’
In Mexico City and Bogotá, reservoir levels are falling fast, and the city governments have implemented rotating water shutoffs as residents are watching their taps go dry for hours a day. Droughts in the region have grown more intense thanks to warmer winter temperatures and long-term aridification fueled by climate change. In South Africa in 2018, Cape Town beat a climate-driven water crisis, and the way it did it holds lessons for cities grappling with an El Niño-fueled drought.
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A Section of Critical Highway Collapsed in Wyoming. Could It Happen Anywhere?
The partial collapse of a roadway in Wyoming as a result of a landslide that occurred over the weekend raises serious questions about the state of the nation’s infrastructure. “These failures don’t happen everywhere. The conditions have to be right,” says one expert.
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States Beg Insurers Not to Drop Climate-Threatened Homes
In the coming years, climate change could force Americans from their homes, not just by raising sea levels, worsening wildfires and causing floods — but also by putting insurance coverage out of reach.
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The Homeowner Mutiny Leaving Florida Cities Defenseless Against Hurricanes
The only protection the town of Hendrickson, Florida, has from the Gulf of Mexico’s increasingly erratic storms is a pristine beach that draws millions of tourists every year — but that beach is disappearing fast. A series of storms have eroded most of the sand that protects Redington Shores and the towns around it, leaving residents just one big wave away from water overtaking their homes. The federal government is refusing to restore eroded beaches in Pinellas County unless homeowners agree to one condition: public access.
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FloodAdapt Will Help Protect Flood-prone Communities
The Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has partnered with Deltares USA to conduct demonstrations, trainings, and performance testing for the new accessible compound flood and impact assessment tool, which will help at-risk communities better prepare for and respond to severe weather events.
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ARPA-H Announces Program to Enhance and Automate Cybersecurity for Health Care Facilities
The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) announced the launch of the Universal PatchinG and Remediation for Autonomous DEfense (UPGRADE) program, a cybersecurity effort that will invest more than $50 million to create tools for information technology (IT) teams to better defend the hospital environments they are tasked with securing.
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O-RAN Is Overhyped as Avoiding Chinese 5G Influence
In recent years, countries have faced a stark choice between Chinese and Western suppliers to develop their 5G cellular network infrastructure. While Chinese suppliers such as Huawei and ZTE are not trusted because of their ties and legal obligations to China’s party-state, Western suppliers have struggled to compete on cost. The emergence of Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) technology has some promised, but the idea that O-RAN is a viable alternative to Chinese suppliers seems hollow.
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What Are the Risks of Hydrogen Vehicles in Tunnels?
In addition to electric vehicles, hydrogen-powered vehicles are also seen as an alternative to conventionally powered vehicles. Scientists have analyzed the risk and damage potential of hydrogen vehicles in tunnels and derived recommendations. Their conclusion? Any damage would be extensive, but its occurrence is unlikely.
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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.