• U.S. Costal Communities Face More than $400 Billion in Seawall Costs by 2040

    Coastal communities in the contiguous U.S. face more than $400 billion in costs over the next twenty years, much of it sooner, to defend coastal communities from inevitable sea-level rise, according to a new report. This is approaching the cost of the original interstate highway system and will require the construction of more than 50,000 miles of coastal barriers in 22 states by 2040, half the time it took to create the nation’s iconic roadway network.

  • The California Coast Is Disappearing under the Rising Sea. Our Choices Are Grim

    The California coast grew and prospered during a remarkable moment in history when the sea was at its tamest. But the mighty Pacific, unbeknownst to all, was nearing its final years of a calm but unusual cycle that had lulled dreaming settlers into a false sense of endless summer.

  • Huawei CVs Show Close Links with Military, Study Says

    A study of the employment information of thousands of Huawei staff has revealed deeper links with the Chinese military and intelligence apparatus than those previously acknowledged by China’s biggest telecom equipment maker. The findings are likely to add fuel to the debate among governments around the world over whether to block Huawei’s gear from the rollout of 5G telecoms networks for security reasons. Kathrin Hille writes in the Financial Times that The findings are likely to add fuel to the debate among governments around the world over whether to block Huawei’s gear from the rollout of 5G telecoms networks for security reasons. “Huawei has gone to great lengths saying they have no links with the Chinese military and security institutions,” said Prof. Balding. “The narrative they spin is false — military connections quite clearly run deep.” Analysts said the systemically close ties documented in the study reflected a pattern far beyond Huawei. One expert said such sharing or co-ordination of personnel across defense and commercial research activities was consistent with China’s national strategy for military-civil fusion.

  • U.S. Wants to Isolate Power Grids with “Rretro” Technology to Limit Cyber-attacks

    The U.S. is very close to improving power grid security by mandating the use of “retro” (analog, manual) technologies on U.S. power grids as a defensive measure against foreign cyber-attacks that could bring down power distribution as a result. Catalin Cimpanu writes in ZDNet that the idea is to use “retro” technology to isolate the grid’s most important control systems, to limit the reach of a catastrophic outage.

  • Making the World Earthquake Safe

    Can fake earthquakes help safeguard nuclear reactors against natural disasters? Visitors to this year’s Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition will be given the opportunity to find out for themselves thanks to new research.

  • How climate change impacts the economy

    By Renee Cho

    Warmer temperatures, sea level rise and extreme weather will be deleterious to the U.S. economy: Rising temperatures damage property and critical infrastructure, impact human health and productivity, and negatively affect sectors such as agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and tourism. The demand for energy will increase as power generation becomes less reliable, and water supplies will be stressed. Damage to other countries around the globe will also affect U.S. business through disruption in trade and supply chains.

  • Germany warns Huawei to meet Germany’s security requirements

    Germany warned Huawei that the company must meet Germany’s security requirements before the company will be allowed to bid on building the 5G infrastructure in Germany. Germany has so far resisted U.S. pressure to exclude Huawei from the project. The United States has long suspected Huawei of serving the interests of Chinese intelligence, and Washington has argued that Huawei technology could be used for spying purposes by China.

  • NIST updates to help defend sensitive information from cyberattack

    An update to one of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) information security documents offers strategies to help protect sensitive information that is stored in computers supporting critical government programs and high value assets. The new companion publication offers enhanced security for information stored in critical programs and assets.

  • Optimizing use of future wave electricity generators during disaster

    When hurricanes strike, loss of electricity ranks as one of the top concerns for relief workers. Blackouts lasting a week or more can hamper recovery efforts, shutter hospitals, threaten public health and disrupt transportation. The months-long effort to restore power to Puerto Rico following the 2017 hurricane season has led to renewed interest in finding innovative ways to get affected power grids back online. Researchers look to develop a strategy for how floating devices that harness the energy of the oceans’ waves might be able to provide this much needed aid.

  • With floods and droughts increasing, communities take a new look at storing water underground

    By Erica Gies

    Groundwater recharging – that is, actively moving water underground, a practice known as managed aquifer recharge (MAR) — is the latest wave in water security. There are about 1,200 managed aquifer recharge projects in 62 countries. MAR can be used to restore depleted aquifers, rehabilitate ecosystems and cleanse polluted water. But there are challenges as well.

  • It’s Alive! Creating innovative “living” bridge

    Engineers have designed a unique living laboratory on a heavily traveled iconic bridge which could change the way infrastructure is viewed. The Memorial Bridge, which links Portsmouth, New Hampshire to Kittery, Maine, has been outfitted with data sensors that have transformed it into a self-diagnosing, self-reporting “smart” bridge that captures a range of information from the health of the span to the environment around it.

  • Dream of ideal “invisibility” cloaks for stress waves dashed

    Whether Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak, which perfectly steers light waves around objects to make them invisible, will ever become reality remains to be seen, but perfecting a more crucial cloak is impossible, a new study says. It would have perfectly steered stress waves in the ground, like those emanating from a blast, around objects like buildings to make them “untouchable.”

  • Finding and fixing natural gas leaks quickly, economically

    From production to consumption, natural gas leaks claim lives, damage the climate and waste money. Researchers are working on better ways to find and fix gas leaks quickly and inexpensively from one end of the system to the other.

  • Sensors may not make infrastructure safer

    Simply driving down the road gives you a sense for the current state of our infrastructure: crumbling and in need of repair. New technology like sensors offers a way for inspectors to peer inside the systems almost continuously. But just placing a sensor on the side of a bridge doesn’t automatically lead to cost savings and a safer bridge.

  • Small towns, big flood waters

    Climate change is bringing more water to people’s doorsteps, devastating communities. For some floodplain towns, survival comes down to sink, swim, or rise. Entire towns are moving to escape rising waters. But how do towns address these growing threats and still retain their sense of community? But how do you move an entire town? Kat Kerlin writes in UC Davis Magazine that flood experts at UC Davis are visiting dozens of communities to find out. This is the story of two of those towns.