Short Takes – 7-31-25

Republicans move to clear final hurdles to funding bill before recess. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: “Appropriators are crafting a three-bill package that covers full-year funding for the departments of Agriculture (USDA), Veterans Affairs (VA), Commerce, Justice (DOJ), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), rural development, military construction and science agencies.”

Scammers Unleash Flood of Slick Online Gaming Sites. KrebsOnSecurity.com article. Pull quote: “However, any “winnings” displayed by these gaming sites are a complete fantasy, and players who deposit cryptocurrency funds will never see that money again. Compounding the problem, victims likely will soon be peppered with come-ons from “recovery experts” who peddle dubious claims on social media networks about being able to retrieve funds lost to such scams.”

New Deep Sea Creatures ‘Challenge Current Models of Life,’ Scientists Say. 404Media.co article. Pull quote: “Even at the Deepest [31,276 feet], animals are living off the submerged land, including roving sea worms called polychaetes and giant tube worms called siboglinids that measure nearly a foot in length. Whereas some animals in the deep sea consume the remains of dead stuff that has sunk down from the surface, these ecosystems are entirely powered by the outflows from the seeps.”

Why devastating tsunamis didn’t follow the Russia earthquake.  Pull quote: “There’s also “a small chance that any earthquake can be followed by a larger one, and so that’s why we always suggest that people stay on alert,” Briggs says. On July 20, this same region was struck by a magnitude 7.4 event, with this week’s quake happening less than two weeks later. “That’s an example, right there,” he says.”

EarthDaily nets $60 million loan to ramp up constellation expansion. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “The remaining multispectral satellites are slated to launch across multiple rideshare missions in 2026, EarthDaily CEO Don Osborne told SpaceNews, with specific launches still being finalized with SpaceX.”

You may already have some protection from bird flu, but don’t count on it. ScienceNews.org article. Pull quote: ““Certainly, you can have pandemics even when there’s some existing weak immunity against the new strain,” he says. For instance, influenza pandemics in 1968 and 2009 happened despite many individuals having prior immunity to similar viruses. And preexisting immunity may have made the 2009 swine flu pandemic worse for some.”

Revising Spectrum Sharing Rules for Non-Geostationary Orbit, Fixed-Satellite Service Systems. Federal Register FCC final rule. Summary: “In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) announces that the Office of Management and Budget has approved new information collection requirements under OMB Control Number 3060-0678, as adopted in the Commission's Report and Order, FCC 23-29, and revised in the Commission's Second Report and Order, FCC 24-117.” Effective date: July 31^st, 2025.

Pipeline Safety: Information Collection Activities. Federal Register PHMSA 30-day ICR notice. Two ICRs: Rupture Mitigation Valve Recordkeeping Requirements (2137-0637), and Rupture Mitigation Valve Notification Requirements (2137-0638). Comments due September 2^nd, 2025.

Perchloroethylene (PCE); Regulation Under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA); Request for Comment. Federal Register EPA notice. Summary: “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) is seeking public comment to inform its reconsideration of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) regulation for perchloroethylene (PCE). As promulgated in December 2024, the PCE risk management action addressed the unreasonable risk of injury to health presented by PCE under its conditions of use by requiring various workplace exposure controls, prohibiting certain industrial and commercial uses, and preventing consumer access to the chemical, among other provisions. This request for public comment follows the filing of several legal challenges to the rule in 2025, and EPA's subsequent determination that the PCE regulation under TSCA should be reconsidered through further rulemaking. EPA intends to consider information received in response to this public comment solicitation, and other reasonably available information, to inform the development of any proposed rule to amend the PCE regulation as appropriate.”  Comments due by August 29^th, 2025.