Dangerous Fungi Are
Spreading Across U.S. as Temperatures Rise. WSJ.com article. Pull quote: ““We keep saying these fungi are rare, but this must be the
most common rare disease because they’re now everywhere,” Dr. Spec said.”
Kid-edited journal
pushes scientists for clear writing on complex topics. WashingtonPost.com article. Pull quote: “Dense language sends a message “that science is for
scientists; that you have to be an ‘intellectual’ to read and understand
scientific literature; and that science is not relevant or important for
everyday life,” according to a paper published last year in Advances in
Physiology Education.”
AI model accurately
classifies reaction mechanisms.
ChemistryWorld.com article. Pull quote: “Marwin Segler from Microsoft Research AI4Science calls the
work ‘a fantastic demonstration of how machine learning can help creative
scientists to unravel nature and solve hard chemical problems’. ‘We need better
tools like this to discover novel reactions to make new drugs and materials and
make chemistry greener,’ he says. ‘It also highlights how powerful simulations
can be to train AI algorithms, and we can expect to see more of that.’”
How arming Ukraine is
stretching the US defence industry.
IG.FT.com article. Extended supply chains provide multiple supply bottlenecks. “Ramping up
production of the Javelins, Himars and the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket
Systems (GMLRS) it fires is complex and time-consuming. Detailed mapping of the
supply chains for each by the Financial Times reveals a sprawling network:
Himars and GMLRS are assembled in factories across 141 different US cities,
while Javelins are built in 16 states.”
Russia Sidesteps
Western Punishments, With Help From Friends. NYTimes.com article. Pull quote: “In part, that could be because many nations have found
Russia hard to quit. Recent research showed that fewer than 9 percent of
companies based in the European Union and Group of 7 nations had divested one
of their Russian subsidiaries. And maritime tracking firms have seen a surge in
activity by shipping fleets that may be helping Russia to export its energy,
apparently bypassing Western restrictions on those sales.”
House Ousts Ilhan Omar
From Foreign Affairs Panel as G.O.P. Exacts Revenge. NYTimes article. GOP moderates bought off cheap. Pull quote: “But the gesture was not
enough for some other Republicans. Representative Ken Buck of Colorado, one of
the more conservative naysayers, exacted a pledge from Mr. McCarthy to
strengthen the appeals process for members facing punitive actions in the
future, a commitment that won over most of the remaining holdouts.”
On "Sensitive
but unclassified.". WHMurray.blogspot.com
post. Short and sweet.
Pentagon: Suspected
Chinese spy balloon flying over northern US. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: ““We had been looking at whether there was an option
yesterday” to down the balloon “over some sparsely populated areas in Montana,
but we just couldn’t buy down the risk enough to feel comfortable recommending
shooting it down yesterday,” the official said.”
CSB Back to Three
Board Members Again. CSB.gov release. Pull quote: “CSB Chairperson Owens said, “We are delighted to have
Cathy Sandoval join us on the CSB Board, and we are looking forward to working
closely with her to continue to rebuild and revitalize the CSB and protect
communities, workers and the environment from chemical disasters.” Three out of what is supposed to be a
5-member Board.
Stop Passing the Buck
on Cybersecurity.
ForeignAffairs.com article. Article by Jen Easterly and CISA Executive Assistant Director Eric
Goldstein; part of new administration outlook on cybersecurity? Pull quote: “What
the United States faces is less a cyber problem than a broader technology and
culture problem. The incentives for developing and selling technology have
eclipsed customer safety in importance—a trend that is not unique to software
and hardware industries but one that has particularly pernicious effects
because of the ubiquity of these technologies. As Americans have integrated
technology into nearly every facet of their lives, they have unwittingly come
to accept that it is normal for new software and devices to be indefensible by
design. They accept products that are released to market with dozens, hundreds,
or even thousands of defects. They accept that the cybersecurity burden falls
disproportionately on consumers and small organizations, which are often least
aware of the threat and least capable of protecting themselves.”
Two decades after the
Columbia disaster, is NASA’s safety culture fixed? ArsTechnica.com article.
Pull quote: “"We have enough examples now of what not to do," Heflin
said. "I don't care what it is. If you have someone who is worried, don't
slough it off. Deal with it. The program manager is under all this pressure to
complete a mission. But you just can't ignore someone who might just have
something you really need to pay attention to. You can't allow all of these
successes to blind you to things you should pay attention to." Lessons
applicable to more than just space flight.