-
Hiding buildings from earthquakes
The seismic waves of an earthquake fall into two main groups: body waves that propagate through the Earth, and surface waves that travel only across the surface; invisibility cloaks could be used to make buildings invisible to surface waves
-
-
Bangladesh in SMS cyclone alert system trial
Thousands of people in Bangladesh die each year as a result of cyclones; the government is testing am SMS disaster warning system
-
-
DHS announces $1.8 billion in federal preparedness grants
Grants to states and localities aim to protect, prevent, respond, and recover from potential calamities this fiscal year
-
-
New flood warning system developed
Researchers from the United Kingdom and China develop a software-based flood warning system which takes into account both climate change and corresponding hydrological effects
-
-
Flood-proofing New York City with storm barriers
New York City faces two problems with water: rising ocean level and surges created by hurricanes and Nor’easters; engineers propose a system of barriers to prevent New Orleans-like flooding
-
-
Melting Greenland ice threatens northeast U.S., Canada
The melting of Greenland’s ice sheets is driving more and more water toward the already threatened coastlines of New York, Boston, Halifax, and other cities in the northeastern United States
-
-
U.S. unprepared for severe solar storms
Mankind’s vulnerability to disruptions caused by severe solar storms has increased as a result of the increasing dependence of human societies on technology and electricity; a storm on the scale of the 1859 Carrington Event could damage the U.S. electrical grid to such an extent that vast regions of the country could be without power for weeks, perhaps months.
-
-
U.S. reassesses safe water levels in New Orleans' outfall canals
New Orleans has three outfall canals, the role of which is similar to that of a storm drain under a city street; since Katrina, there have been disagreements among engineers as to how much water would it be safe for each of the three canals to handle during a storm
-
-
SAIC to deploy tsunami monitoring system for Thailand
The Thai government has awarded SAIC a contract to produce and deliver a sea-based system that can warn against the threat of a tsunami; the new system will replace the current NOAA Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting Tsunamis (DART) buoy system in the Bay of Bengal, which was provided to Thailand in 2006
-
-
New Orleans channel may have exacerbated post-Katrina floods
Witness for the prosecution: New Orleans residents sue the U.S. government over a channel dug by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; computer models show that channel may have exacerbated post-Katrina floods
-
-
Lancet: Pandemic closer but not inevitable
Prestigious British health journal said “The world has moved closer towards a pandemic, but it is not yet inevitable”
-
-
Experts: Levees will not save New Orleans from Katrina-like storm
National Academy of Engineering panel says that even the strongest levees and flood walls cannot be guaranteed to save New Orleans from another hurricane like Katrina
-
-
Asteroid theory of dinosaur extinction challenged
Three decades ago, the father-son team of Luis and Walter Alvarez offered the asteroid-impact theory as an explanation for the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago; new geological findings now challenge this theory
-
-
WHO: Swine flu could become pandemic
The growing number of swine flu in Mexico, and the spread of the disease in the United States, lead the World Health Organization to declare the virus “a public health emergency of international concern”
-
-
Seismologist predicts earthquake in south Iran at the end of the month
A Chinese seismologist who relies on unusual cloud formations as a predictor of earthquake says that at the end of the month a powerful earthquake will shake south Iran; debate about basing emergency policy on such predictions intensifies in light of similar predictions before the earthquake in Italy two weeks ago
-
The long view
Trump Aims to Shut Down State Climate Policies
President Donald Trump has launched an all-out legal attack on states’ authority to set climate change policy. Climate-focused state leaders say his administration has no legal basis to unravel their efforts.