• Iceland Battles a Lava Flow: Countries Have Built Barriers and Tried Explosives in the Past, but It’s Hard to Stop Molten Rock

    By Iceland Battles a Lava Flow: Countries Have Built Barriers and Tried Explosives in the Past, but It’s Hard to Stop Molten Rock

    Fountains of lava erupted from the Sundhnúkur volcanic system in southwest Iceland on Jan. 14, 2024, invading the outskirts of the coastal town of Grindavík. Humans have tried many ways to stop lava in the past, from attempting to freeze it in place by cooling it with sea water, to using explosives to disrupt its supply, to building earthen barriers. It’s too soon to say if Iceland’s earthworks will succeed in saving Grindavík, a town of about 3,500 residents, and a nearby geothermal power plant.

  • Hybrid Urban Water Sourcing Model

    By Patrick Kurp

    Houston’s water and wastewater system could be more resilient with the development of hybrid urban water supply systems that combine conventional, centralized water sources with reclaimed wastewater. Reclaimed wastewater could make supply systems more resilient.

  • California’s Salton Sea Region a Rich Domestic Lithium Resource

    The United States currently has limited capabilities to recover, refine, and produce domestically sourced lithium, meaning nearly all lithium for U.S. needs must be imported. The most comprehensive analysis to date quantifying the domestic lithium resources in southern California’s Salton Sea region found that the total resources in the region could contain more than 3,400 kilotons of lithium, enough to support over 375 million batteries for electric vehicles (EV).

  • How to Prevent America’s Aging Buildings from Collapsing – 4 High-Profile Disasters Send a Warning

    By Abieyuwa Aghayere

    Many cities have buildings showing signs of aging and in need of repair. Four recent catastrophic building collapses and a near miss are raising concerns about the state of America’s aging buildings and questions about who, if anyone, is checking their safety.

  • A Huge Battery Has Replaced Hawaii’s Last Coal Plant

    By Julian Spector

    Plus Power’s Kapolei battery is officially online. The pioneering project is a leading example of how to shift crucial grid functions from fossil-fueled plants to clean energy.

  • Security Officers at Nuclear Facilities

    Nuclear plants are sensitive facilities which require strict security measures to ensure the safety of both the plant and the surrounding areas. One of the essential components of this security system is the presence of security officers. There are nearly 9,000 security officers protecting U.S. nuclear plants. Presently the United Federation LEOS-PBA represents many Nuclear Security Officers working at nuclear facilities around the country.

  • Texas Regulators Limit Oil and Gas Disposal Wells in Bid to Reduce Earthquakes in West Texas

    By Carlos Nogueras Ramos

    Injecting saltwater back into the ground “is likely contributing to recent seismic activity,” the Railroad Commission of Texas has said.

  • How Can California Solve Its Water Woes? By Flooding Its Best Farmland.

    By Jake Bittle

    Restored floodplains in the state’s agricultural heartland are fighting both flooding and drought. But their fate rests with California’s powerful farmers.

  • Texas Regulators Limit Oil and Gas Disposal Wells in Bid to Reduce Earthquakes in West Texas

    By Carlos Nogueras Ramos

    Injecting saltwater back into the ground “is likely contributing to recent seismic activity,” the Railroad Commission of Texas has said.

  • Coastal Populations Set to Age Sharply in the Face of Climate Migration

    By Mark Blackwell Thomas

    As climate change fuels sea level rise, younger people will migrate inland, leaving aging coastal populations — and a host of consequences — in their wake. While destination cities will work to sustainably accommodate swelling populations, aging coastal communities will confront stark new challenges.

  • Extreme Weather Cost $80 Billion in 2023. The True Price Is Far Higher.

    By Jake Bittle

    The U.S. saw 25 billion-dollar weather disasters in 2023 — more than ever before. 2024 could be worse. Congress has long punted on reforming FEMA and the nation’s disaster relief policy, but it’s only a matter of time before there’s a disaster bad enough that legislators feel pressure to act. That catastrophe didn’t arrive in in 2023, but it is surely coming.

  • Identifying Types of Cyberattacks That Manipulate Behavior of AI Systems

    AI systems can malfunction when exposed to untrustworthy data – what is called “adversarial machine learning” — and attackers are exploiting this issue. New guidance documents the types of these attacks, along with mitigation approaches. No foolproof method exists as yet for protecting AI from misdirection, and AI developers and users should be wary of any who claim otherwise.

  • Australia Should Learn from Canada and Take a Truly Global Approach to Critical Minerals

    By Ian Satchwell

    Canada and Australia are key players in the global supply chain for critical minerals. Simultaneously the top two nations for receiving minerals investment and for providing minerals investment, they are perfectly placed to use critical minerals to facilitate the global energy transition, foster innovation and build their security capabilities.

  • From NYC to D.C. and Beyond, Cities on the East Coast Are Sinking

    Major cities on the U.S. Atlantic coast are sinking, in some cases as much as 5 millimeters per year – a decline at the ocean’s edge that well outpaces global sea level rise. Particularly hard hit population centers such as New York City and Long Island, Baltimore, and Virginia Beach and Norfolk are seeing areas of rapid “subsidence,” or sinking land, alongside more slowly sinking or relatively stable ground, increasing the risk to roadways, runways, building foundations, rail lines, and pipelines.

  • In Coastal Communities, Sea Level Rise May Leave Some Isolated

    By Tatyana Woodall

    Amid the threat of dramatic sea level rise, coastal communities face unprecedented dangers, but a new study reveals that as flooding intensifies, disadvantaged populations will be the ones to experience some of the most severe burdens of climate change.