Global Risks & Future Threats

Snow avalanches are among the most destructive natural hazards threatening human life, ecosystems, built structures, and landscapes in mountainous regions.   Avalanches and landslides are common in Himalayan Kashmir. Avalanches have caused some of the heaviest tolls for the Indian and Pakistani armies camping in the region. Each winter in …

Assaults by firearm kill about 11,000 people in the US each year, which translates to a roughly 1-in-370 lifetime chance of death from gun violence. That’s almost 50% more likely than the lifetime odds of dying while riding inside a car, truck, or van. These measures also suggest Americans are …

Criminal networks traffic a range of drugs including cannabis, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.  As international borders become increasingly porous, global abuse and accessibility to drugs have become increasingly widespread.   This international trade involves growers, producers, couriers, suppliers and dealers. It affects almost all of our member countries, undermining political …

One of the biggest threats to the deployed aerospace and defense electronics systems is radiation. Outside the protective cover of the Earth’s atmosphere, the solar system is filled with radiation. The natural space environment consists of electrons and protons trapped by Earth’s magnetic field, protons and small amount of heavy nuclei …

In spite of repeated assertions by Trump of his administration’s success in defeating the terrorist organization and destroying its so-called caliphate in Iraq and Syria, experts still think that ISIS remains a threat. While ISIS’s so-called “caliphate” has been destroyed, and it no longer holds even a fraction of the …

Water is the most precious resource for sustaining life and survival of living world, but we are losing fresh water at an astonishing rate: Climate change is resulting in disappearing of glaciers and severe droughts, groundwater being pumped out faster than natural processes can replace it. Much of the world …

Bacteria underpin much of our world, acting behind the scenes to affect the health and behavior of animals and plants. They help produce food, provide oxygen, and even reshape the environment through a vast array of biological processes. They come in a phenomenal number of strains—many still unknown—and thrive in …

The introduction of the electronic voting machines in India at the turn of the century  had aided in  reducing instances of capturing of polling stations and stuffing of ballot boxes by mobs hired by political parties. Using data from state elections, researchers Sisir Debnath, Mudit Kapoor and Shamika Ravi studied the …

REEs are a series of chemical elements found in the Earth’s crust that are essential components of many technologies, including electronics, computer and communication systems, transportation, health care, and national defense. Rare Earths Elements (REE) are incorporated into many sophisticated technologies with both commercial and defense applications including smartphones and …