Short Takes – 8-13-25

DEF CON volunteers step up to help water sector after China, Iran attack utilities. TheRecord.media article. Pull quote: “The volunteers — many of them annual participants in the DEF CON cybersecurity conference — provided free services necessary to combat an escalating array of nation-state attacks on utilities over the last three years. The emphasis was on no-cost, hands-on support for operational technology (OT) mapping, password protocols and vulnerability assessments.”

Semaglutides may shrink muscle size, strength: Study. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: “In the study, published in the journal Cell Metabolism, researchers revealed “unexpected effects,” highlighting that lean mass, or body weight that isn’t fat, dropped about 10 percent. Most of the loss came from non-muscle tissues, particularly the liver, which shrank by nearly half. Some skeletal muscles lost around 6 percent of their size, while others remained unchanged.” More study needed.

Pentagon plan would create military ‘reaction force’ for civil unrest. WashingtonPost.com article. “The documents also show robust internal discussions that, with unusual candor, detail the possible negative repercussions if the plan were enacted. For instance, such short-notice missions could “significantly impact volunteerism,” the documents say, which would adversely affect the military’s ability to retain personnel. Guard members, families and civilian employers “feel the significant impacts of short notice activations,” the documents said.”

Alaska capital Juneau urged to evacuate as 'glacial outburst' flood looms. Minor click-bait exaggeration in title not reflected in article. USAToday.com article. Pull quote: “A glacial outburst like this occurs when an ice dam holding back a lake - in this case Suicide Basin - collapses from the summer heat, releasing the water in a short period of time. Suicide Basin is part of the Mendenhall Glacier, a popular tourist destination easily reached from Juneau.”                   

Proposed Budget Cut to Chemical Safety Board Could Limit OSHA’s Reach. OHSonline.com article. Pull quote: “The potential loss of the CSB would also stall progress in areas like OSHA standard revisions, hazard recognition, and industry-wide training. Safety experts caution that without a dedicated investigative body like the CSB, the U.S. workforce could face an increase in repeated, preventable incidents that otherwise might have been avoided through shared learning. The removal of the CSB doesn’t just risk regulatory fragmentation—it risks silencing one of the few organizations uniquely positioned to investigate, educate, and catalyze meaningful change in hazardous industries.”

National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program Guidance. Federal Register FHWA notice. Summary: “This notice announces the availability of FHWA's revised National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program Interim Final Guidance. This Interim Final Guidance updates the existing NEVI Formula Program Guidance to align with clear and express statutory language in order to streamline and provide flexibility for implementation of the program. This Interim Final Guidance is effective immediately while FHWA seeks comment on what further changes may be appropriate.” Comments due August 27^th, 2025 (VERY SHORT comment period).

New Pluto mission could uncover dwarf planet's hidden ocean — if the 'queen of the underworld' gets to fly. Space.com article. Pull quote: “Some moons constantly flex as they gravitationally interact with their host planet and neighboring moons, keeping their ocean from freezing. Charon, Pluto's largest moon, is nearly as massive as Pluto; they are often called a "double planet" (though neither meets the criteria for a planet). Charon could potentially keep Pluto warm, if the ocean had a high enough nonwater component to lower its freezing point, scientists think.”

Vulcan Centaur rocket launches experimental military satellite on its 1st-ever US Space Force mission (video). Space.com article. Pull quote: “The satellite, identified publicly only as Navigation Technology Satellite-3 (NTS-3), features a phased array antenna that allows it to "focus powerful beams to ground forces and combat jamming environments," Builta said in a media roundtable on Monday (Aug. 11). GPS jamming has become an increasingly worrisome problem for both the U.S. military and commercial satellite operators, which is why this spacecraft will be conducting experiments to test how effective these new technologies are at circumventing jamming attacks.”

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