Short Takes – 11-25-22

Lawmakers fret over another holiday punt on government funding. Politico.com article. Includes interesting look at 118^th issues. Pull quote: “The muddle carries serious stakes for a multitude of government programs, not to mention the future of congressional spending debates. Lawmakers fear that any funding bill they can agree on before 2023 might be the last one Congress passes for at least the next two years due to a slew of factors, including a slim incoming House majority that’s already splintered over federal spending and a presidential election that looms in 2024.”

Why Operational Technology Security Cannot Be Avoided. SecurityIntelligence.com article. Interesting overview of OT technology. Pull quote: “A wide variety of crucial industrial sectors utilize OT, including mining, construction, oil and gas transmissions, power and utilities, chemical plants, water treatment, industrial machinery and transportation. Settings for OT include industrial networks, industrial controls systems (ICS) and processes for operation and maintenance.”

Powerful rare-earth free magnet ‘evolved’ and refined by machine learning algorithm. ChemistryWorld.com article. Pull quote: “A rare-earth free magnetic material with similar properties to the rare-earth magnets found in everything from wind turbines to computer hard drives has been discovered by US researchers using a machine learning-guided approach. The material requires further development, but the demonstration constitutes an important step on the road to creating powerful magnets that aren’t dependent on rare earth elements.”

White House resists declaring emergency as flu, viruses surge in children. TheHill.com article. “According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, the hospitalization rate in all kids for the week of Nov. 12 peaked at 17.5 out of every 100,000, a rate that was twice as high as any other season on record.”

The sixth asteroid impact we saw coming. ESA.int blog post. Two-hour advanced warning for 1-meter asteroid ‘impact’ (burnt up in atmosphere). Pull quote: “Small, metre-sized asteroids strike Earth every couple of weeks. They add to our understanding of asteroid populations, of fireballs and their makeup, but they aren’t a big priority when it comes to Planetary Defence because they pose no real danger.”