Short Takes – 11-6-24

Requests for Comments; Clearance of a Renewed Approval of Information Collection: Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) Safety Event Reporting. Federal Register FAA 30-day ICR notice. Summary: “The Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting comments on the following collection of information was published on July 31, 2024 (89 FR 61575) [corrected link]. The title of this information collection is being changed from “Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) Accident Reporting” to “Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) Safety Event Reporting” to reflect the change made to the title of the applicable regulation (14 CFR 107.9) in 2022. The regulations at 14 CFR 107.9 requires that a small unmanned aircraft system safety event be reported if it causes: (1) serious injury to any person or any loss of consciousness; or (2) damage to any property, other than the small unmanned aircraft, unless the cost of repair or fair market value in the event of total loss does not exceed $500.” Comments due: December 6^th, 2024.

California scientists unlock new key to mosquito-borne disease spread. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: “Using a CRISPR gene editing technique, the scientists knocked out the trpVa gene and thereby caused the males mosquitoes to stop reacting to sound. And when they placed the deaf males in chambers with females, they found that nothing happened.” How you spread a gene that limits breading in a large population remains to be demonstrated.

Here’s How to Use Dreams for Creative Inspiration. ScientificAmerican.com article. Pull quote: “An objective, automated creativity measure called “semantic distance” indicated that brief napping helped spur inventiveness but that there was no additional benefit when a tree [dream] prompt was added. In this measure, a computer assessed the similarity of pairs of words produced in each creativity task, with less similarity linked to higher creativity. Still, the measure hints at a mechanism for the creativity boost during N1. “It suggests people are capable of making more distant associations and thereby finding [conceptual] bridges that they might not otherwise discover,” Schooler says.”

The Virus That Causes Mpox Keeps Getting Better at Spreading in People. ScientificAmerican.com article. Pull quote: “Meanwhile, clade I viruses have caused sporadic infections in people for more than 50 years — largely in rural regions of Central Africa. But in late 2023, researchers identified a rapidly growing outbreak in more densely populated, urban areas in eastern regions of the DRC that disproportionately affected sex workers, suggesting that this strain of the virus could, like IIb, spread readily between people.

Harris concession opens agencies to Trump—if he opts in. GovExec.com article. Pull quote: “There remains a significant hurdle to that process, however: Trump has still not signed an agreement with the Biden White House, nor the General Services Administration, the federal agency that manages the presidential transition, that would allow those landing teams to deploy. Under federal transition statute, Trump must have the memoranda of understanding in place and detail the individuals who will serve on the transition before sending them to agencies.”

CISA deepens coordination with agencies on ‘systemic’ risks. FederalNewsNetwork.com article. Pull quote: “An entity can be designated an SIE “based on the potential for its disruption or malfunction to cause nationally significant and cascading negative impacts to national security (including national defense and continuity of government), national economic security, or national public health or safety.””

Who could Trump pick for his new cabinet? Here are top contenders. Reuters.com article. There will be a lot of these articles over the next couple of weeks. Pull quote: “Here are the top contenders for some of the key posts overseeing defense, intelligence, diplomacy, trade, immigration and economic policymaking. Some are in contention for a range of posts.”