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Simple and Efficient Method of Quantum Encryption
Quantum computers will revolutionize our computing lives. But these computers will be able to crack most of the encryption codes currently used to protect our data, leaving our bank and security information vulnerable to attacks
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Boosting Resilience of U.S. Timekeeping
The U.S. should bolster research and development of systems that distribute accurate time via fiber-optic cable and radio as part of the effort to back up GPS and enhance the resilience of critical infrastructure that depends on it.
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Stacked Deep Learning: Deeper Defense against Cyberattacks
Internet-based industrial control systems are widely used to monitor and operate factories and critical infrastructure. Moving these systems online has made them cheaper and easier to access, but it has also made them more vulnerable to attack. Stacked deep learning offers a better way to detect hacking into industrial control systems.
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Machine Learning Helps Measure Building Earthquake Damage
One obstacle which often prevent an effective response to earthquakes is that the buildings from which such a response is managed and response equipment stored, are themselves damaged. Researchers have developed a method to quickly assess damage to such buildings immediately after an earthquake to determine whether the buildings can be continued to be used.
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Big Batteries on Wheels: Zero-Emissions Rail While Securing the Grid
Trains have been on the sidelines of electrification efforts for a long time in the U.S. because they account for only 2 percent of transportation sector emissions, but diesel freight trains emit 35 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually and produce air pollution that leads to $6.5 billion in health costs, resulting in an estimated 1,000 premature deaths each year. Researchers show how battery-electric trains can deliver environmental benefits, cost-savings, and resilience to the U.S.
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First Planetary Defense Test
An asteroid slammed into Earth 63 billion years ago, igniting vast fires which threw smoke and soot into the atmosphere, plunging the planet into a prolonged winter, killing many plants on which herbivores depended. The extinction of the dinosaurs was only one consequence of that event. NASA wants to make sure there is no repetition of such a calamity: The agency is planning the first-ever planetary defense test, which deliberately collides a spacecraft into an asteroid called Dimorphos. The aim is to try and deflect the asteroid away from its Earth-bound trajectory.
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Congress Restarts Push for China Legislation by Year’s End
Lawmakers are renewing a push to pass legislation that would boost U.S. competition with China, amid rising concerns about the global supply chain. Addressing U.S. competition with China is one of the few areas of broad bipartisan support on Capitol Hill, although lawmakers differ on the approach.
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A Secure Environment for Developing the Future of Cybersecurity Solutions
To stay ahead of hackers and cybercriminals, we need a rapid, streamlined way to develop, test, and utilize cutting-edge cybersecurity solutions. DHS ST and CISA are partnering to develop CISA’s Cybersecurity Laboratory.
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Be Prepared: It Is Impossible to Predict an Earthquake
In earthquake-prone developed countries like Japan and New Zealand, even severe earthquakes cause very few deaths – they are mainly stories of economic loss. Earthquakes without Frontiers (EwF) supported physical and social scientists in eight U.K. universities and institutes working to increase resilience to earthquakes in Asian countries. But throughout much of the Mediterranean—Middle East–Central Asia earthquake belt, earthquakes here will kill tens, or hundreds of thousands of people.
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Using AI to Provide the World with Drinking Water
Though water covers 71 percent of earth’s surface, more than 2.5 billion people in the world lack access to fresh water at least once a month. Researchers are seeking new possibilities in water purification through using AI agents in the desalination process.
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Machine Learning Improves Earthquake Detection Capabilities
Researchers are applying machine learning algorithms to help interpret massive amounts of ground deformation data collected with Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) satellites; the new algorithms will improve earthquake detection. The new methodology enables the detection of ground deformation automatically at a global scale.
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Tidal Stream Power Can Generate 11% of U.K. Electricity Demand
Tidal stream power has the potential to deliver 11 percent of the U.K. current annual electricity and play a significant role in the government’s drive for net-zero.
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Critical Interoperable Messaging Capability for First Responders
“With no dedicated public safety messaging and collaboration platform, many public safety and emergency response officials are leveraging non-secure, consumer-grade messaging tools,” says DHS’s Kathryn Coulter Mitchell. The address this problem, DHS ST has awarded more than $1.5 million to advance the development of the Bridge 4 Public Safety (Bridge4PS) messaging and collaborating platform for first responders.
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Protecting Infrastructure from Hackers
Two Midwestern universities lead an effort to form a coalition of regional research centers to work together to develop the region’s cyber defense talent with an eye to bolstering the defense of the region’s infrastructure against hackers.
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Protecting Soft Targets
There is a need to construct a versatile system designed to protect the vast array of so-called soft targets such as stadiums, schools, and places of worship. After an eight-month competition among the nation’s biggest universities, DHS awarded Northeastern University a $36 million, ten-year contract to develop such a system.
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More headlines
The long view
Encryption Breakthrough Lays Groundwork for Privacy-Preserving AI Models
In an era where data privacy concerns loom large, a new approach in artificial intelligence (AI) could reshape how sensitive information is processed. New AI framework enables secure neural network computation without sacrificing accuracy.
AI-Controlled Fighter Jets May Be Closer Than We Think — and Would Change the Face of Warfare
Could we be on the verge of an era where fighter jets take flight without pilots – and are controlled by artificial intelligence (AI)? US R Adm Michael Donnelly recently said that an upcoming combat jet could be the navy’s last one with a pilot in the cockpit.
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.
Using Liquid Air for Grid-Scale Energy Storage
New research finds liquid air energy storage could be the lowest-cost option for ensuring a continuous power supply on a future grid dominated by carbon-free but intermittent sources of electricity.
Enhanced Geothermal Systems: A Promising Source of Round-the-Clock Energy
With its capacity to provide 24/7 power, many are warming up to the prospect of geothermal energy. Scientists are currently working to advance human-made reservoirs in Earth’s deep subsurface to stimulate the activity that exists within natural geothermal systems.
Experts Discuss Geothermal Potential
Geothermal energy harnesses the heat from within Earth—the term comes from the Greek words geo (earth) and therme (heat). It is an energy source that has the potential to power all our energy needs for billions of years.
Autonomous Weapon Systems: No Human-in-the-Loop Required, and Other Myths Dispelled
“The United States has a strong policy on autonomy in weapon systems that simultaneously enables their development and deployment and ensures they could be used in an effective manner, meaning the systems work as intended, with the same minimal risk of accidents or errors that all weapon systems have,” Michael Horowitz writes.
Are We Ready for a ‘DeepSeek for Bioweapons’?
Anthropic’s Claude 4 is a warning sign: AI that can help build bioweapons is coming, and could be widely available soon. Steven Adler writes that we need to be prepared for the consequences: “like a freely downloadable ‘DeepSeek for bioweapons,’ available across the internet, loadable to the computer of any amateur scientist who wishes to cause mass harm. With Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4 having finally triggered this level of safety risk, the clock is now ticking.”
Autonomous Weapon Systems: No Human-in-the-Loop Required, and Other Myths Dispelled
“The United States has a strong policy on autonomy in weapon systems that simultaneously enables their development and deployment and ensures they could be used in an effective manner, meaning the systems work as intended, with the same minimal risk of accidents or errors that all weapon systems have,” Michael Horowitz writes.
Are We Ready for a ‘DeepSeek for Bioweapons’?
Anthropic’s Claude 4 is a warning sign: AI that can help build bioweapons is coming, and could be widely available soon. Steven Adler writes that we need to be prepared for the consequences: “like a freely downloadable ‘DeepSeek for bioweapons,’ available across the internet, loadable to the computer of any amateur scientist who wishes to cause mass harm. With Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4 having finally triggered this level of safety risk, the clock is now ticking.”