NSF News December 11, 2019 As part of its ongoing effort to enhance the agency’s understanding of the threats to basic research posed by foreign governments that have taken actions that violate the principles of scientific ethics and research integrity, the NSF today released a report by JASON titled “Fundamental Research Security.” Four main themes emerged from the JASON study: The value of, and need for, foreign scientific talent in the U.S.; The significant negative impacts of placing new restrictions on access to fundamental research; The need to extend our notion of research integrity to include disclosures of commitments and potential […]
Tag Archives: National security
Nine climate tipping points now ‘active,’ warn scientists
Science Daily November 27, 2019 According to an international team of researchers (UK, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Australia) the evidence from tipping points alone suggests that we are in a state of planetary emergency: both the risk and urgency of the situation are acute. They summarize evidence on the threat of exceeding tipping points, such as the loss of the Amazon rainforest or the West Antarctic ice sheet, identify knowledge gaps and suggest how these should be plugged. They explore the effects of such large-scale changes, how quickly they might unfold and whether we still have any control over them. According […]
More Than 11,000 Scientists Just Officially Declared a Global Climate Emergency
Science Alert November 5, 2019 An international team of researchers (USA – State University of Oregon, Tufts University, Australia, South Africa) explores four decades-worth of publicly available data, covering energy use, surface temperature, population, deforestation, polar ice, fertility rates, and, of course, carbon emissions. According to the researchers the human population is still increasing by roughly 80 million people per year, deforestation in the Amazon is once again on the up and up and we have generally conducted business as usual and are essentially failing to address this crisis. To stop the worst consequences of the climate crisis, they say […]
Russian Air Force Begins Testing MALE Strike Drones
Defense Systems November 2, 2019 The user testing follows the manufacturer test phase and state trials culminated with weapons tests with several drones deployed to Syria. Following those tests, the Ministry of Defense is expected to make the final procurement decision. In the strike-reconnaissance configuration, Orion-E can carry four missiles. The Russian Air Force plans to deploy MALE drones in a mixed formation of manned and unmanned reconnaissance and attack platforms. These are expected to use MALE drones such as long loitering but slow Orion, and fast, long-range strike aircraft such as the S-34…read more.
Predicting terror activity before it happens
Science Daily October 7, 2019 Researchers at Northwestern University developed an early-warning model that predicts the future lethality of a group using only a handful of events that occur soon after it emerges. Using the first 10 to 20 attacks or the first 10 to 20% of a group’s lifetime, the model provides about 60% of the explanatory power as would having a group’s complete lifetime data. They considered terror organizations like a business whose product is lethality and predict their success in producing that product based on the diversity of weapons, their sophistication and attack capabilities. Using publicly available […]
Clever materials make it easier to pull clean water from the air
MIT Technology Review September 27, 2019 Providing the global population with clean drinking water is one of the great engineering challenges of the 21st century. As significant amount of water vapor is stored in the atmosphere, dew harvesting holds potential for freshwater harvesting. An international team of researchers (China, USA) has developed a theoretical framework to analyze due harvesting. They provided a numerical design of a selective emitter, consisting of six layers optimized for dew-harvesting purposes. According to the researchers at an ambient temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) with a relative humidity of 40%, the selective emitter could harvest […]
How Does USAMRIID Shut Down Impact Nation’s Bioterrorism Laboratory Response Network?
Global Biodefense August 13, 2019 The U.S. Army Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) Special Pathogens Laboratory at Fort Detrick is one of only three National Laboratories at the top of the protective umbrella of the Laboratory Response Network (LRN) structure, along with those operated by the CDC and the Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC), responsible for specialized characterization of organisms, bioforensics, select agent activity, and handling highly infectious biological agents. What happens when an important component of the nation’s biopreparedness infrastructure fails to meet CDC biosafety requirements and has its Federal Select Agent certification pulled? Global Biodefense submitted requests […]
Bangladesh, China and India Could Have Conflicts Over the Brahmaputra River
Next Big Future August 2, 2019 The Brahmaputra River starts in China and runs through India and Bangladesh. There are serious concerns for regional stability in conflicts over the water of the Brahmaputra River. China and India are actively constructing dams and considering water diversion plans to meet domestic needs, especially for irrigation. India has plans to build hundreds of dams in the Northeast region. Bangladesh faces human security pressures that will be magnified by upstream river practices. The Brahmaputra basin has been comparatively underexamined, despite the complex geopolitics involved and potential threats to regional stability. The Brahmaputra basin covers […]
Scientists make fundamental discovery to creating better crops
Phys.org July 22, 2019 An international team of researchers (USA – Oak Ridge National Laboratory, University of Wisconsin, DOE Joint Genome Institute, industry, France) has discovered the complex relationship plants have with mycorrhizal fungi. When they are united, the fungi form a sheath around plant roots with remarkable benefits. The fungal structure extends far from the plant host, increasing nutrient uptake and even communicating with other plants to “warn” of spreading pathogens and pests. In return, plants feed carbon to the fungus, which encourages its growth. The discovery could lead to the development of bioenergy and food crops that can […]
China to set up system to safeguard technology security
Phys.org June 8, 2019 According to the Chinese state media the National Development and Reform Commission has been tasked with establishing a list system to more effectively forestall and defuse national security risks. Detailed measures will be unveiled in the near future…read more.