• Benefits and risks of close science-defense collaboration

    This week was National Science and Engineering week in the United Kingdom — and the London events and exhibit emphasized the contribution scientists and engineers make to the defense of the kingdom; a venerable engineering magazine says we should be just a bit cautious here lest we turn the battlefield of the future into a publicly funded industrial testing ground, where commercial pressure would overwhelm the sober considerations of defense decision makers

  • U.S. to lose a generation of young medical, biology researchers

    Five consecutive years of flat funding the budget of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is deterring promising young researchers and threatening the future of U.S. health, a group of seven preeminent academic research institutions warn

  • U.K., U.S. work together toward shared goals // Sir Alan Collins

    The shared goal of both the United States and the United Kingdom is safeguarding our citizens and the security of key national assets. Our governments are working collaboratively and have long recognized the need to work closely on science and technologies for security

  • Congressional funding for campus security urged

    There are 17 million students who live in open environments on college campuses across the United States; a year after the deadly Virginia Tech shooting, there are growing calls for Congress to help fund campus security; high-tech alert systems, such as text messaging, are seen as crucial to warn students of possible threats

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  • FSIS exemplifies growing inadequacy of U.S. food inspection regime

    Decline and fall: In FY 1981, FSIS spent $13.22 per thousand pounds of meat and poultry inspected and passed; by FY 2007, the figure had fallen to $8.26 per thousand pounds; in FY 1981 FSIS employed about 190 workers per billion pounds of meat and poultry inspected and passed; by FY 2007, FSIS employed fewer than 88 workers per billion pounds

  • Maryland leaders worry about shift in DHS priorities after elections

    Because of its proximity to the nation’s capital, the Baltimore metro area and Washington suburbs are particularly vulnerable to terrorist activity, Maryland leaders say; they want attention to security increased, not decreased

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  • $1.6 trillion needed to shore up U.S. failing infrastructure

    Experts say that the U.S. needs to invest $1.6 trillion over five years to shore up the country’s crumbling infrastructure; estimates show that each billion dollars invested in infrastructure creates between 40,000 and 50,000 new jobs, and that every $1 billion invested in transportation infrastructure generates $2 billion in economic activity throughout our economy

  • Connecting renewable energy sources to the national grid

    Connecting different renewable energy sources to the national grid may be a costly proposition; new study aims to find community generation schemes which are able to connect to the grid without the need for expensive cable upgrades or digging up roads

  • King coal, III: DOE makes case for FutureGen restructuring

    The Department of Energy restructures its approach to FutureGen — the ambitious plan to develop clean coal technology which produces hydrogen and electricity and mitigates greenhouse gas emissions

  • King coal, II: Administration restructures approach to clean coal funding

    DOE restructures FutureGen approach; under the new plan, DOE’s investment would provide funding for no more than the carbon capture and storage (CCS) component of the power plant — not the entire plant construction; the original 2003 FutureGen concept called for the federal government to cover 74 percent of the cost of the entire project; DOE requests $648 million in FY2009 budget for coal research, development, and deployment

  • Life of U.K. project aiming to halve cost solar panels extended

    U.K. government agency injects £6 million into research aiming to halve the cost of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells; in the first four years of the project, scientists created platform technologies in crystalline silicon, thin film silicon, thin film cadmium telluride, and thin film copper indium diselenide; now they will narrow down the research

  • King coal, I: U.S. ends FutureGen funding; clean coal future unclear

    The Bush administration, as part of a new approach to producing clean cole, has ended government participation in the FutureGen project; government says that the private sector can now pick up the tab; the administration unfolds new clean cole initiatives

  • Government agencies over-rely on outside contractors

    GAO criticizes DHS for profligate use of outside contractors; employees in other agencies write to say their agencies, too, are culpable

  • GAO criticizes DHS's reliance on contractors

    GAO says DHS spends too much money on contractors who do work which is usually reserved for government employees; as a result, DHS’s decision making may be unduly influenced by contractors

  • Who’s in charge at DHS?

    Who’s in charge at DHS?