Intelligence Community Warns Solar Storms Could Collapse Electric Grid — Loren Thompson —Forbes.com — Dec 19, 2012
Now there is growing concern that a really big storm might collapse much of the global electric grid, particularly in places with long high-voltage transmission lines such as Australia, Canada, China and the United States. The intelligence assessment warns that, “until ‘cures’ are implemented, solar super-storms will pose a large-scale threat to the world’s social and economic fabric.”
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For space scientists dreaming up a manned base on the moon, 3D printing with lunar dust looms as an attractive possibility. Such on-demand fabrication would allow astronauts to repair broken parts, manufacture spare ones and maybe even build structures, all out of the dirt scooped from under their boots.
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Hairspray, or rather the un-natural emission of CFCs in an alien planet's atmosphere, might one day serve as the sign that aliens have reshaped distant worlds, researchers say. Such research to find signs of alien technology is now open to funding from the public. [More]
The author warns that unlike Cold War era fears over nuclear weapons, today's fears are "come from biology, energy production, and the information sciences -- and are the very technologies that have fueled our prodigious growth as a species. They are far more seductive than nuclear weapons, and more difficult to extricate ourselves from. The technologies we worry about today form the basis of our global civilization and are essential to our survival." [More]
The end is not nigh, but it could be unless we constrain our own technological ingenuity. That's the warning from an initiative in Cambridge, UK, that wants to create a centre to focus on huge, technological hazards that could wipe out the human race at a stroke. [More]
What would the world be like if it were four-degrees warmer? The answer, in a new report released by the World Bank, is dire: extreme heat waves, floods, drought, sea-level rise, food shortages. [More]
Hacking the President’s DNA — Andrew Hessel, Marc Goodman and Steven Kotler —Atlantic Monthly — Nov 01, 2012
The U.S. government is surreptitiously collecting the DNA of world leaders, and is reportedly protecting that of Barack Obama. Decoded, these genetic blueprints could provide compromising information. In the not-too-distant future, they may provide something more as well—the basis for the creation of personalized bioweapons that could take down a president and leave no trace. [More]
U.S. Satellite Plans Falter, Imperiling Data on Storms — John H. Cushman, Jr. —New York Times — Oct 27, 2012
The United States is facing a year or more without crucial satellites that provide invaluable data for predicting storm tracks, a result of years of mismanagement, lack of financing and delays in launching replacements, according to several recent official reviews. The looming gap in satellite coverage, which some experts view as almost certain within the next few years, could result in shaky forecasts about storms like Hurricane Sandy, which is expected to hit the East Coast early next week.
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A study proposing a test for the idea that we are all living in a computer simulation has sparked a fresh flurry of interest in this intriguing take on reality. But fans of The Matrix might have to wait a little longer before they can unleash their inner Neo. [More]
U.N. Official Calls For Stronger International Monitoring of Synthetic Biology — Global Security Newswire — Sep 28, 2012
A senior U.N. official this week called for the establishment of an international mechanism for ensuring that advances in biotechnology are not exploited to develop biological weapons, BBC News reported. [More]