Biden administration to grow computer chip factories in Colorado and Oregon

Lily Larsen

January 04, 03:17 PM January 04, 04:48 PM

The Biden administration announced a $162 million investment in microchip technology on Thursday in an attempt to boost domestic production of computer chips.

The U.S. Commerce Department picked Arizona-based manufacturer Microchip Technology to handle the expansion. A Colorado-based plant will receive $90 million in improvements, while another $72 million will go to expanding a factory in Gresham, Oregon.

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The federal funding comes from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, a bipartisan law aimed at strengthening domestic manufacturing, supply chains, and national security. The law includes billions of dollars to be used for U.S. chip manufacturing.

The expansion is expected to create 700 construction and manufacturing jobs over the next 10 years. Microchip Technology will triple its domestic production thanks to the investment and become less reliant on factories in Thailand and the Philippines.

“Semiconductors are the key input in so many goods that are vital to our economy,” said Lael Brainard, director of the White House National Economic Council.

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Government officials expect to make additional funding commitments this year.

The first grant of the CHIPS Act, worth $35 million, was awarded to BAE Systems to expand a New Hampshire factory making chips for military jets.

'Devil comet' barreling toward Earth to explode in coming days

Brady Knox

December 29, 06:09 PM December 29, 06:09 PM

A horned "devil comet" barreling toward Earth is set to explode in the coming days.

The massive comet, known as 12P, is 18.6 miles in diameter and is filled with a large amount of gas and ice. Its cryovolcano, a vent that functions as a volcano, erupts when exposed to the sun. The eruptions happen at 15-day intervals, with the next one set to occur Friday or Saturday.

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"The last few outbursts have been on a 15 day cadence," Nick James, of the British Astronomical Association, told Spaceweather.com. "And we might be coming up to another one."

Richard Miles of the BAA described it as being like "Old Faithful."

"Comet 12P has a super cryogeyser, eruption of which is triggered after local sunrise at its location," he said.

Prior eruptions caused the comet to sprout horns, though they have become less pronounced in recent days. To see the horns or eruption, a telescope is needed, though in the spring, observers should be able to view it with the naked eye.

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Though the prospect of a satanic, exploding comet barreling toward Earth may be worrying to some, residents of Earth need not worry. NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office runs the Asteroid Watch program, which tracks every possible danger to the Earth. The catalog is so advanced that the organization can track hazards centuries into the future.

"Everything we find, we take observations on to determine the orbits, see where they're going, and whether they'll be any hazards to the Earth in the future. So that's our strategy here," Lindley Johnson, NASA's planetary defense officer and lead program executive for the Planetary Defense Coordination Office, told the Washington Examiner. "Now we have the technology to find these objects. We just need to be looking for them and taking the observations. And once we find them, we can determine their orbits and know if any of them are going to be any threat to the Earth for the next century or so. So we can actually have quite a bit of warning, decades of warning; we just need to continue to look and project those orbits out."

Senate confirms Harry Coker Jr. as national cyber director

Brady Knox

December 12, 06:55 PM December 12, 06:55 PM

The Senate confirmed Harry Coker Jr. as the new national cyber director.

The Office of the National Cyber Director was established in 2021 to coordinate cybersecurity across the federal government in light of emerging challenges from states such as China and Russia. Coker, confirmed in a 59-40 vote, served as director of the National Security Agency during the Trump administration from 2017 to 2019.

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"Harry Coker is an accomplished leader and a dedicated public servant who is well qualified to lead this important office," Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) said in support of Coker. "Mr. Coker has over four decades of national security and cybersecurity experience. He served as a naval officer and in senior leadership roles at the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency, where he worked to combat cyber and national security threats."

"His nomination received bipartisan support from the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, and he has been endorsed by a wide range of bipartisan cyber and national security experts," he continued. "During the two years since the Office of the National Cyber Director was created, the office has done impressive work, including developing an ambitious national cybersecurity strategy and national cyber workforce and education strategy."

Peters also bemoaned the previous absence of a cyber director, stressing its importance to national security.

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"The Office of the National Cyber Director has been without a confirmed leader for almost 10 months. A dedicated Senate-confirmed leader is critical to building upon these efforts and continuing to grow and mature the Office of the National Cyber Director," he said.

Coker is the second national cyber director, his predecessor leaving the post in February.

America’s commitment to technological innovation is at a crossroads

Nate Scherer

December 05, 06:00 AM December 05, 06:00 AM

One of America’s enduring strengths has been its long embrace of technological innovation. From the widespread adoption of groundbreaking technologies such as the automobile and airplane, to the invention of common household appliances such as the dishwasher and microwave, America has never lost sight of technology’s critical role in driving economic development and societal progress.

In modern times, this embrace of technology has included 5G networks, a revolution of next-generation wireless networks that has touched nearly every aspect of American life, from education and medicine to shopping and taxes.

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However, this revolution is fueled by a steady supply of spectrum, which refers to invisible radio frequencies over which wireless signals travel. Licensed mid-band spectrum, in particular, is in heavy demand because it possesses the ideal mix of speed and geographic coverage, making it perfect for 5G and future sixth-generation networks. Unfortunately, America is not currently identifying enough spectrum bands to satisfy growing consumer demand. This must change, and fast.

The government could start with sharing spectrum bands it isn’t using. According to a recent Accenture report, the government has access to 12 times more licensed mid-band spectrum than the wireless industry. While the government, particularly the Department of Defense, claims to need access to mid-band spectrum, there is no reason they should resist giving up access to spectrum bands they are not actively using.

Rebalancing mid-band allocations should also be treated as a top priority by lawmakers. A failure to act now could leave America vulnerable to international competitors such as China, a country that does not share America’s strategic interests and has allocated 70% more licensed mid-band spectrum for 5G. Leading on all 5G metrics, including mid-band spectrum, will put America in the driver’s seat for setting technical standards and building the “infrastructure the global network will depend on.”

A significant impediment to acquiring adequate amounts of mid-band spectrum, however, is Congress’s inexplicable failure to reauthorize the Federal Communications Commission’s auctioning authority before its expiration earlier this year. Since the competitive bidding process was first established in 1993, the FCC has generated $233 billion for the U.S. Treasury and unlocked $1 trillion in benefits for the public. This is free money that can be used to meet various pressing government needs, such as funding next-generation 911 services and the Affordable Connectivity Program. Congress must act quickly to reauthorize the FCC’s auctioning authority.

America has spent the better part of its existence allowing the creative energies of the free market system to work its magic and produce new and popular technologies that improve consumers’ lives and provide the U.S. with a competitive advantage over other nations. To abandon this position now by failing to provide an adequate amount of exclusive, fully powered mid-band spectrum would be a colossal mistake.

Consumer demand will eventually outstrip supply, and America’s ability to unlock the full potential of 5G technologies will go unrealized. Policymakers must work quickly to ensure that spectrum is allocated appropriately and that federal agencies such as the FCC have the tools to auction more mid-band spectrum to willing private bidders.

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Nate Scherer is a policy analyst with the American Consumer Institute, a nonprofit education and research organization. For more information about the Institute, visit us at www.TheAmericanConsumer.Org or follow us on X @ConsumerPal.

'Drones for Ducks:' Federal grants fund research to use AI to count birds

Tom Joyce | The Center Square contributor

November 29, 09:23 AM November 29, 09:23 AM

(The Center Square) - How should researchers measure the populations of migratory birds? Researchers developed an idea around a campfire that was put to the test for the first time in Bosque Del Apache earlier this month, according to the University of New Mexico.

Each winter, wildlife managers must count migratory waterfowl as they fly down into refuges. However, this is a difficult task that involves scaring birds into the air by flying past them in airplanes.

Working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Department of the Interior, researchers at the University of New Mexico are working to make a machine-learning model prototype to count the birds using pictures taken by drones in a project called Drones for Ducks.

For the past three years, Christopher Lippitt, associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences and professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, and Rowan Converse, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Geography & Environmental Studies, have worked to create an AI model that can tell different birds apart and count them by taking drone photos.

They plan to test the technology in a waterfowl survey this winter. They plan to compare the results to those collected by wildlife managers who use traditional methods.

The researchers plan to do this fieldwork in Bosque Del Apache and Texas Chenier Plain Refuge Complex.

“Ideally, it makes collecting the data more quick and efficient, it helps the biologists get the information they need more quickly by running it through the model, and they get an output that they can interpret in a timely manner,” Converse said. “We also hope that this is less disruptive for wildlife. A lot of the species seem to not react much to the drone going over, whereas some of the traditional methods involve flushing them out so they can be counted.”

Although the model is still being developed, early indications say it can detect birds with 95% accuracy, according to a report.

“The team hopes that the new system will make data collection more accurate and give wildlife managers faster access to information they use to make intervention decisions,” the University of New Mexico wrote. “Accurate counts of these migratory populations of birds are important because they help measure how populations have been impacted by climate change if wildlife managers need to put out additional food for the birds, and other information.”

Other schools are working to create models to count birds in snow or on water. However, UNM’s research is different because it explores detecting birds in more diverse landscapes like farm fields, flooded wetlands and river sandbars.

Doing this requires many volunteers.

To test and train the AI model’s accuracy, researchers use volunteers on Zooniverse.

It is a website anyone can sign up for and use to participate in research as a citizen scientist. “Citizen scientists look at the images taken by drones, mark what objects appear to be birds, and differentiate if each bird is a goose, duck, or crane. The task is more difficult than it may sound due to the diversity of the landscape and the unique bird’s-eye point of view.”

Volunteers submit the information, which researchers then review and filter.

The idea for this research first was established during a camping trip organized by the state’s chapter of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. On the trip, Converse, Lippitt, and others discussed the challenges they face in their work.

Steven Sesnie, a spatial ecologist from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, discussed the challenges associated with counting migratory bird populations. Lippitt proposed finding a way to use AI for the counts.

Since the program uses wildlife management and machine learning, Converse thought it was a good idea to explore in her Ph.D.

Now, Drones for Ducks, funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is on its third research award.

“We all work as a team— the folks at the Fish and Wildlife Service and us— so we’ve gone from the early days of, ‘let’s see if this is crazy,’ with an initial round of funding, to now starting to get down to surveying refuges to test out the potential for large-scale operations,” Lippitt said.

The biorevolution is here, and the US better be prepared to meet it

Sarah Sewall

Tara O'Toole

November 29, 06:00 AM November 29, 06:27 AM

With all of Washington consumed by the promise and perils of generative artificial intelligence and everything that comes with it, we risk neglecting the next technology revolution brewing under our very noses. Biotechnologies, built on our deepening understanding of how to read, write, and edit genetic code, the “code of life,” are not just transforming biomedicine but are generating better, more sustainable approaches to manufacturing, agriculture, and environmental health.

Engineered biology offers potential solutions to some of our most vexing problems. Already, companies are using bioreactors to grow organisms that can be brought to bear in pharmaceuticals, agriculture, raw material conversion, recycling, and so much more. And although these modern bioengineering advances seem to be the stuff of science fiction, we are just scratching the surface.

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Today, most companies working on engineered biology focus on healthcare applications, driven primarily by the promise of strong financial returns from medical breakthroughs. But the possibilities of bioengineering don’t stop there. Engineered biology can help protect the planet by removing carbon from the atmosphere; it can help feed the world by creating more resilient and nutritious crops; it can enable domestic manufacturing of more than we can imagine without the pollution we’ve come to expect. Engineered biology may also be the key we need to unlock new sources of energy that reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. A sustainable future requires bioengineering solutions.

The nation that pioneers the bioengineering solutions of tomorrow will be safer, richer, and more powerful. Policymakers must act now to ensure that the United States leads the biorevolution and that the biorevolution serves the nation’s needs.

McKinsey estimates that the annual global impact of the biorevolution could approach $4 trillion in the next 10 to 20 years. This explains why more than 20 national governments, including close U.S. allies, are investing heavily in the biorevolution.

The Chinese Communist Party has placed the biggest bet on bioengineering, and for good reason. As the top importer of U.S. agricultural products, Beijing seeks greater independence for its food supply. Its drive for economic growth and reliance on coal undercuts its climate goals, and the Chinese people need novel healthcare solutions for a rapidly aging population.

Bioengineering, by the CCP’s estimate, could be just the transformative solution it needs to curb some of its most profound domestic challenges. China has generously funded biological research, built new facilities and infrastructure for biotech development, including four university centers dedicated to synthetic biology, and has worked hard to recruit experts from abroad and ensure a vibrant talent pipeline at home.

Instead of begrudging Chinese ambition to lead all aspects of the biorevolution, the U.S. should use its own innovative capacities to outcompete China. U.S. taxpayers may have funded most of the basic research behind the biorevolution, but the country has not made it a priority to build the financial framework, infrastructure, operational standards, and incentives needed to translate the science into a biotechnology industry.

In September 2022, the Biden administration released a biomanufacturing executive order meant to bolster the country’s biomanufacturing investment and to keep pace with China’s growing interest and investment in the sector. Still, this attention has not been paired with concrete actions and the funding necessary to address core needs and barriers.

As the executive order outlined, the U.S. government needs to invest in biofoundries, where companies can use computational power and bioreactors to develop efficient, at-scale approaches to biomanufacturing. We must develop ways to collect, curate, aggregate, and enable secure access to biodata of all types in quantities that allow the application of advanced artificial intelligence analytics. We must create the legal, ethical, and security frameworks necessary to guide actions in this New Age of Biology.

The U.S. should not cede leadership of the biotechnology revolution to China. This revolution in engineering biology may well determine who enjoys a more sustainable, self-sufficient, and prosperous future. The nation that leads it will also reap geopolitical benefits, just as the U.S. translated its leadership of the information revolution into economic, military, and diplomatic power. If we do not start giving bioengineering the attention it requires, we are leaving the next technological revolution in the hands of others to own, govern, and leverage to whatever ends they see fit.

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Sarah Sewall is executive vice president for national innovation policy at In-Q-Tel, the not-for-profit strategic investor for the U.S. national security community and its allies. She served as undersecretary of state from 2014-2017, deputy assistant secretary of defense from 1993-1996, and was a Harvard Kennedy School professor in the intervening years.

Dr. Tara O’Toole is a senior fellow at IQT. She served as undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security from 2009-2013, assistant secretary of the Department of Energy from 1993-1997, and as a professor and biosecurity center director at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak suffers minor stroke while in Mexico

Jenny Goldsberry

November 09, 04:02 PM November 09, 04:02 PM

Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, experienced a stroke during his trip to Mexico on Wednesday.

Wozniak, 73, confirmed to ABC News that the stroke was "minor" and that he was treated at a hospital. The entrepreneur was in Mexico City for the World Business Forum and felt some effects of vertigo in the morning. It wasn't until the hospital took an MRI that he realized he had had a stroke.

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Wozniak was discharged from the hospital and returned to the United States. He did not appear for his scheduled speech at 4:20 p.m. that day.

Staff working for Wozniak's website did not return the Washington Examiner's request for comment.

Steve Jobs was Wozniak's co-founder of Apple, which began in 1976. Nine years later, Wozniak left the company for other entrepreneurial pursuits. Jobs died in 2011 due to complications surrounding his pancreatic cancer — two months after resigning as the company's president.

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Wozniak has since co-founded EFFORCE, a blockchain company that rewards clients who save on energy with non-fungible tokens, which are unique digital artworks.

The World Business Forum takes place in multiple cities across the globe every year. Other speakers at Mexico City's summit included Francis Ford Coppola and Michael Phelps.

Obama encourages those who want 'the common good' to join federal AI talent

Jenny Goldsberry

November 09, 02:37 PM November 09, 02:37 PM

Former President Barack Obama encouraged coders to join the Biden administration's artificial intelligence team.

Obama appeared on the Verge's podcast Decoder and responded to questions on technology and AI. The former president spent the last segment of the podcast recruiting on behalf of President Joe Biden, who has launched a government oversight initiative over AI.

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"I want to emphasize once again — because you’ve got an audience that understands this stuff, cares about it, is involved in it, and working at it: If you are interested in helping to shape all these amazing questions that are going to be coming up, go to ai.gov and see if there are opportunities for you," Obama said on Tuesday. "Fresh out of school, or you might be an experienced tech coder who’s done fine, bought the house, got everything set up, and says: 'You know what? I want to do something for the common good.' Sign up."

When he was president, Obama was involved in federal initiatives surrounding technology, including the establishment of the Digital Service. The program is meant to introduce technology and digital design into government services.

"It’s remarkable how many really high-level folks decided that for six months, for a year, or for two years, devoting themselves to questions that are bigger than just what the latest app or video game was turned out to be really important to them and meaningful to them," Obama said of those who have participated in Biden's national AI talent surge. "Attracting that kind of talent into this field with that perspective, I think, is going to be vital."

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There are job openings for Biden's "Innovation Fellows," who will, according to the website, be focused on goals to leverage AI in government, guide AI regulatory capacities, and strengthen the AI research and development ecosystem.

This comes less than two weeks after Biden signed an executive order calling for AI to become "safe and secure" amid what he referred to as its risks to national security.

Titan sub implosion: Coast Guard says it has recovered remaining debris from submersible wreck

Jack Birle

October 11, 02:51 PM October 11, 02:51 PM

The United States Coast Guard says it has recovered the remaining debris from the site of the Titan submersible that imploded four months ago while visiting the site of the RMS Titanic shipwreck.

The final pieces of "debris and evidence" from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean were recovered by marine safety engineers along with the Coast Guard’s Marine Board of Investigation on Oct. 4, according to the Coast Guard. Among the debris were "presumed human remains" from the site of the ill-fated submersible."

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"The recovered evidence was successfully transferred to a U.S. port for cataloging and analysis. Additional presumed human remains were carefully recovered from within Titan’s debris and transported for analysis by U.S. medical professionals," the Coast Guard said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Coast Guard also said it would be scheduling an evidence review session with the National Transportation Safety Board and "other international investigative agencies" to figure out "next steps for necessary forensic testing."

The submersible went missing shortly after leaving for a voyage to visit the shipwreck of the Titanic on June 18, with five people on board. The Coast Guard later announced on June 22 that the OceanGate vessel had suffered a “catastrophic implosion,” killing all on board. The implosion is believed to have occurred 13,000 feet underwater.

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The five people on the submersible were OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, British billionaire Hamish Harding, Shahzada and Suleman Dawood, and Paul Henry Nargeolet.

OceanGate announced it would be suspending commercial operations and exploration missions shortly after the implosion of the vessel. Months after the incident the U.S. government filed a lawsuit seeking to block an expedition to the Titanic shipwreck site from occurring in 2024, but the suit dealt more with international law rather than the aftermath of the Titan disaster.

Female tech jobseekers are furious that men claiming to be 'nonbinary' crashed their conference

Heather Hunter

October 04, 11:38 PM October 05, 05:10 AM

A tech conference meant to be the largest gathering of female technologists faced backlash when biological men identifying as "nonbinary" were seen attending the event.

"This is a space for women and tech. It's one of those few limited resources that isn't for you. It's for us," a frustrated female conference attendee complained on social media.

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The Grace Hopper Celebration is an annual conference and career fair organized by AnitaB. The Sept. 26 to 29 job fair was planned to help women seeking careers in STEM fields meet with job recruiters in Orlando, Florida. Some prices for the event cost upwards of $1,300 a ticket.

AnitaB's Chief Impact Officer Cullen White, whose LinkedIn pronouns identify as "He/Him," raged from onstage at the conference about the audacity of "cisgender men" attending the conference.

“Yesterday, it became clear that there are a far greater number of cisgender men attending than we anticipated,” White said.

"Simply put, some of you lied when you registered. And as evidenced by the stacks and stacks of resumes you're passing out, you did so because you thought you could come here and take space to try and get a job. We need male allies; we need men who want to celebrate women, work with and for women. So, we welcome men in this space — to learn and support and improve."

One social media user responded to his organization's post, "Hey, Cullen White: You couldn't find a woman to address this issue on stage?"

"Imagine a cis white male telling non-binary people they aren’t non-binary. Bigot," another person wrote on social media.

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"Why is the cis man mansplaining to the cisman about a cis women’s problem?" another commenter said.

Prior to joining AnitaB.org, Cullen had worked as managing director of computer Science for Teach For America and as supervisor of information technology programs for Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland.