Global Risks & Future Threats

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 …

There is also  growing concern that the widespread availability of radiological materials may result in a dirty bomb attack. Recently a secret group of fewer than 10 people in undercover congressional operation was easily able to buy the raw ingredients for a dirty bomb in US. This has set off alarms among …

Fake news or junk news or pseudo-news is a type of yellow journalism or propaganda that consists of deliberate disinformation or hoaxes spread via traditional print and broadcast news media or online social media. This type of news, found in traditional news, social media or fake news websites, has no …

Traditional navies as well as maritime terrorists can and have used mines and underwater improvised explosive devices (UWIEDs) to challenge military and commercial uses of the seas. Mines have been utilized in defensive capabilities, such as denying access into a region, and offensive capacities, such as denying egress out of …

The U.S.  Navy and DARPA ran a facility–the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) in Gakona, Alaska—before it was passed to the University of Alaska in 2014. HAARP  was a research program to study ionosphere and its response to high frequency excitations from ground. “The official objective of the …

A global race has ensued to exploit and operationalize quantum technologies for the use of military effects. Quantum information science (QIS),  field comprises four domains: Quantum Communication, where individual or entangled photons are used to transmit data in a provably secure way; Quantum Simulation, where well-controlled quantum systems are used …

The life of a plant that we depend on for food, clean air, and materials are challenged by myriad threats, natural and man-made including Viruses, pests, fungi, herbicides, drought, pollution, salinity, flooding, and frost. These rapid or unexpected emergence of these threats put human food security at risk and could …