TODAY:
- AROUND THE WORLD
- DEFENSE – MILITARY – SPACE
- ON LIFE
- RUSSIA – UKRAINE (impact, reactions, consequences)
AROUND THE WORLD
Nuclear
- Visualizing the Science Behind Nuclear Weapons, March 31. By Morgan Stevens, Center for Data Innovation. Visual Capitalist, an online publisher that creates data visualizations, has created an infographic depicting the scientific process of nuclear weapons. The infographic shows the process of nuclear fission, nuclear fusion, and the height and radius of atomic and hydrogen bombs used in the past. One section of the infographic displays the scale of atomic bombs Little Boy and Fat Man used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, hydrogen bomb Castle Bravo that the United States’ used in its largest-ever nuclear weapon test in 1954, and hydrogen bomb Tsar Bomba that the Soviet Union tested in 1961, compared to the size of Mount Everest. According to this visualization, Tsar Bomba produced 51,000 kilotons of TNT and a mushroom cloud over 67 kilometers or 42 miles high. (read more)
- Nuclear missiles, bombs market to surge 73% by 2030-report, April 4. By Reuters. The global market for nuclear missiles and bombs should surpass $126 billion within ten years, up nearly 73% from 2020 levels, according to a report by Allied Market Research on Monday, as Russian aggression in Ukraine spurs military spending. (read more)
Pakistan
- Pakistan’s top court adjourns hearing on PM Khan’s move to block ouster, April 4. By Asif Shahzad and Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam, Reuters. Pakistan’s top court adjourned on Monday without deciding on the legality of Prime Minister Imran Khan actions in blocking an opposition attempt to oust him, a move that has led to political turmoil in the nuclear-armed nation. (read more)
Sri Lanka
- In crisis shake-up, Sri Lanka’s president drops brother as finance minister, April 4. By Uditha Jayasinghe and Devjyot Ghoshal, Reuters. Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa dropped his brother as finance minister on Monday after disbanding the government and calling for a unity administration, as protests over the country’s economic crisis focused on the role of the ruling family. (read more)
USA
- To Walk the Earth in Safety: New Report Showcases U.S. Global Leadership in Landmine Clearance and Conventional Weapons Destruction, April 4. By US Department of State. On April 4, 2022, the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs released the 21st Edition of To Walk the Earth in Safety, a report underscoring the accomplishments of the U.S. Conventional Weapons Destruction (CWD) Program in 2021. (read more)
- Establishment of the Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy, April 4. By US Department of State. The Department is pleased to announce that the Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy (CDP) began operations today. A key piece of Secretary Blinken’s modernization agenda, the CDP bureau will address the national security challenges, economic opportunities, and implications for U.S. values associated with cyberspace, digital technologies, and digital policy. (read more)
DEFENSE – MILITARY – SPACE
- Experts say Russia’s use of counterspace capabilities could make 2022 a ‘pivotal’ year for space security, April 4. By Courtney Albon, Defense News. From satellite jamming over Eastern Europe to Russia’s testing of an anti-satellite weapon, analysts tracking counterspace threats say the last year has brought confirmation of several troubling predictions – and 2022 will likely continue those trends. Secure World Foundation and the Center for Strategic and International Studies both released reports Monday outlining trends in counterspace activity during the last year and documenting the development and use of space weapons. In recent years, the two Washington, DC, think tanks have warned of increasing counterspace activities and predicted heightened responses from the U.S. and other spacefaring nations. (read more)
- Lockheed releases open-source standard for on-orbit spacecraft docking interface, April 4. By Courtney Albon, Defense News. Lockheed Martin is releasing a non-proprietary, open-source interface standard it says could enable future on-orbit satellite mission extension and augmentation. The company announced the release of the Mission Augmentation Port interface standard Monday, which is now available for satellite designers to access online. The new standards offer an interface design that allows spacecraft to dock with one another. And because it’s open-source, it promotes greater interoperability among providers. (read more)
ON LIFE
- New EEG headset to analyze impact of space travel on astronauts’ brains, March 28. Thomas Macaulay, The Next Web. A SpaceX Dragon rocket is due to take off this week with some unusual cargo on board: an EEG headset. (read more)
- Scientists think they can control the weather using chaos theory, March 29, The Next Web. A team of researchers led by the RIKEN center in Japan have discovered an experimental way to control the weather itself using a chaos theory concept related to the flapping of a butterfly’s wings. (read more)
- Google is using AI to better detect searches from people in crisis, March 30. By , The Verge. In a personal crisis, many people turn to an impersonal source of support: Google. Every day, the company fields searches on topics like suicide, sexual assault, and domestic abuse. But Google wants to do more to direct people to the information they need, and says new AI techniques that better parse the complexities of language are helping. (read more)
- FedEx will run first commercial test of an autonomous vertical takeoff and landing craft in 2023, March 30. By Dan McCarthy, Emerging Tech Brew. What’s smaller than a plane, bigger than a drone, and the latest addition to FedEx’s delivery tech experiments? (read more)
- Voice Biomarker Can Predict Coronary Artery Disease Events, March 30. By Mark Melchionna, Health IT Analytics. New research led by Mayo Clinic shows that a preidentified voice biomarker can assist in evaluating heart health, enabling clinicians to detect clogged arteries. (read more)
- Automated waste ‘sharks’ tackle plastic pollution in UK port city, March 29. By SmartCitiesWorld. Plymouth City Council is using the remotely operated marine vehicles to “gobble up” plastic litter in the sea as part of the council’s Preventing Plastic Pollution project. (read more)
- DARPA to build life-saving AI models that think like medics, March 30. By Brandon Vigliarolo, The Register. A new DARPA initiative aims to ultimately give AI systems the same complex, rapid decision-making capabilities as military medical staff and trauma surgeons who are in the field of battle. (read more)
RUSSIA – UKRAINE (impact, reactions, consequences)
- U.S. pushes to suspend Russia from Human Rights Council, April 4. By Reuters. The United States will ask the U.N. General Assembly to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said on Monday, after Ukraine accused Russian troops of killing dozens of civilians in the town of Bucha. (read more)
- Why Putin faces “more NATO” in the Arctic after Ukraine invasion, April 4. By Robin Emmott, Essi Lehto and Simon Johnson, Reuters. The sound of gunfire echoed around the Norwegian fjords as a row of Swedish and Finnish soldiers, positioned prone behind banks of snow, trained rifles and missile launchers on nearby hills ready for an enemy attack. The drill, in March, was the first time forces from Finland and Sweden have formed a combined brigade in a scheduled NATO exercise in Arctic Norway known as “Cold Response.” Neither country is a member of the NATO alliance. The exercise was long planned, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 added intensity to the war game. (read more)
- Global outcry at “war crime” killings near Kyiv as fighting shifts east, April 4. By Marko Djurica and Abdelaziz Boumzar, Reuters. Global outrage spread on Monday at civilian killings in north Ukraine where tied bodies shot at close range, a mass grave and other signs of executions were found in a town retaken from Russian troops, as the focus of the conflict shifted elsewhere. (read more)
