MIT News August 25, 2023 Researchers at MIT have identified a new optical signature in a widely used class of magnetic beads, which could be used to quickly detect contaminants in a variety of diagnostic tests. They used Dynabeads coated with anti-Salmonella to bind and identify Salmonella enterica. Dynabeads presented signature peaks at 1000 and 1600 1/cm from aliphatic and aromatic C-C stretching of polystyrene, and 1350 1/cm and 1600 1/cm from amide, alpha-helix, and beta-sheet of antibody coatings of the Fe2O3 core, confirming with electron dispersive X-ray imaging. The Raman signature could be measured in dry and liquid samples. […]
Tag Archives: National security
DOD Biodefense Posture Review Released
Global Biodefense August 17, 2023 The U.S. Department of Defense today released the Biodefense Posture Review outlining reforms aimed to posture the DOD in the face of future biothreats through 2035. It outlines significant reforms and lays the foundation for a resilient total force that deters the use of bioweapons, rapidly responds to natural outbreaks, and minimizes the global risk of laboratory accidents. It addresses Naturally Occurring Biological Threats, Accidental Biological Threats, Deliberate Biological Threats, Emerging and Disruptive Technologies, and Risks from Bioincidents. Lines of Effort to Drive Biodefense Actions include, Enhance early warning and understanding to counter biothreats Coordinate […]
Blind spots in biodefense
Science February 16, 2023 According to a team of researchers in the US (Harvard University, New York University) more zoonotic diseases originated in the United States than in any other country during the second half of the 20th century. Of the many agencies that govern food animal production, the US Department of Agriculture is the most important, but even it has no authority to regulate on-farm animal production. Each year, the US consumes an estimated 1 billion pounds of “game” . Yet, most hunter-harvested meat is not inspected, and no sanitary measures are required. The US is the largest importer […]
Researchers: We’ve Underestimated The Risk of Simultaneous Crop Failures Worldwide
Science Alert July 5, 2023 Concurrent weather extremes driven by a strongly meandering jet stream could trigger simultaneous harvest failures across major crop-producing regions, but so far this has not been quantified. The ability of state-of-the art crop and climate models to adequately reproduce such high impact events is a crucial component for estimating risks to global food security. An international team of researchers (USA – Columbia University, Germany) has found an increased likelihood of concurrent low yields during summers featuring meandering jets in observations and models. While climate models accurately simulate atmospheric patterns, associated surface weather anomalies and negative […]
Satellite security lags decades behind the state of the art
Science Daily July 11, 2023 Despite its critical importance, little academic research has been conducted on satellite security and the security of onboard firmware. This lack likely stems from by now outdated assumptions on achieving security by obscurity, effectively preventing meaningful research on satellite firmware. Researchers in Germany have provided a taxonomy of threats against satellite firmware and conducted an experimental security analysis of three real-world satellite firmware images. They based their analysis on a set of real-world attacker models and found several security-critical vulnerabilities in all analyzed firmware images. The results showed that modern in-orbit satellites suffer from different […]
US Space Force is Deploying Hundreds of New Military Satellites by 2026
Next Big Future June 30, 2023 On June 28 the Space Development Agency released a final request for proposals for its next procurement of 100 satellites as the agency continues to build out a military constellation in low Earth orbit. The Transport Layer Tranche 2 also includes 72 Beta satellites for which SDA already has requested bids. The U.S. Space Force is building a layered network of military satellites. The proliferated warfighter space architecture includes a Transport Layer of interconnected communications satellites and a Tracking Layer of missile-detection and warning sensor satellites. The first highly inclined plane of the T2TL-Alpha […]
China is Making the Largest Ocean Uranium Extraction Testing Facility
Next Big Future May 23, 2023 China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) will create a “world-leading” seawater uranium extraction technology development centre which is said to be the largest such test platform to be built in the South China Sea. The platform will form “two centres, one platform” seawater uranium extraction scientific research base together with a research and test centre and an international exchange centre. Construction has just got under way. It has the ability to carry out material verification and amplification experiments in real ocean conditions. The oceans are estimated to contain some 4 billion tons of the metal. […]
Fungal Infections Could Obliterate Our Food Supply, Scientists Warn
Science Alert May 26, 2023 Hundreds of fungal diseases affect the 168 crops listed as important in human nutrition by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. According to an international team of researchers (UK, Germany) despite widespread spraying of fungicides and the planting of cultivars bred to be more disease resilient, growers worldwide lose between 10% and 23% of their crops to fungal disease every year, and another 10–20% post-harvest. The five most important calorie crops — rice, wheat, maize (corn), soya beans and potatoes — can be affected by rice blast fungus, wheat stem rust, […]
Biointelligence and National Security in the 21st Century
AFCEA October 11, 2022 Globally, governments and industry are recognizing the promise that the biological sciences can offer, but it is also critical to recognize the evolving perils such innovation can entail. Looking toward this future, over the past five years, IARPA has launched 10 new bio-focused programs including the Finding Engineering Linked Indicators (FELIX) program, which contributed to the first IC public statement that the SARS-CoV-2 virus was not genetically engineered as well as the Molecular Information Storage (MIST) program, which is pursuing new ways of using biology for scalable data storage. IARPA is situated to empower the entire […]
Antenna enables advanced satellite communications testing
MIT News September 6, 2022 Researchers at MIT Lincoln Laboratory have installed a Multi-Band Test Terminal (MBTT) which can rotate 15 degrees per second, completing a single revolution in 24 seconds. At this speed, the MBTT can detect and track satellites in medium and low Earth orbit. The MBTT is designed to be easily reconfigured to support multiple radio frequency (RF) bands used for military and commercial satellite SATCOM systems. Since its installation, it has supported a wide range of tests and experiments involving protected tactical waveform (PTW). It is also supporting international outreach efforts led by Space Systems Command […]