Cybersecurity educationUtah State University’s Seth Manesse Wins First Individual CyberForce Competition Published 25 November 2020 After a tough, day-long contest, Seth Manesse from Utah State University won the sixth CyberForce Competition. Each CyberForce Competition presents a real-world scenario in which participants must defend cyber-physical infrastructure against threats modeled on those faced by the energy sector

VaccinesHere’s How the Three COVID-19 Vaccines Compare By Steve Baragona Published 24 November 2020 With pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca’s announcement Monday that its vaccine successfully prevented coronavirus infection, three candidates appear to be promising vital tools to curtail the COVID-19 pandemic. However, scientists caution that all they know about these vaccines is what the companies have

Face masksFace Masks Cut Disease Spread in the Lab, but Have Less Impact in the Community. We Need to Know Why By Paul Glasziou and Chris Del Mar Published 24 November 2020 In controlled laboratory situations, face masks appear to do a good job of reducing the spread of coronavirus (at least in hamsters) and

China syndromeChina-Sensitive Topics at US Universities Draw More Online Harassment By Lin Yang Published 21 November 2020 Last week, students at Brandeis University hosted an online discussion about China’s controversial Xinjiang policies, hearing experts discuss the detention, abuse and political indoctrination of more than 1 million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities. But as Uighur attorney

Post-election tensionsFive Reasons Trump’s Challenge of the 2020 Election Will Not Lead to Civil War By Alexander Cohen Published 21 November 2020 Some Americans fear that the deep political divisions in the country and President Donald Trump’s determination to challenge the results of the election will cause civil war. Those who object to Trump’s tactics

ARGUMENT: Face-mask effect Landmark Danish Study Shows Face Masks Have No Significant Effect Published 21 November 2020 Do face masks work? Carl Heneghan and Tom Jefferson write that a just-published study reports the results of a trial in Denmark – a study which hopes to answer that very question. “In the end, there was no

TerrorismMore than 100 “High-Risk” Islamists at Large in Germany: Security Service Published 21 November 2020 More than 120 Islamists in Germany pose a “high risk,” according to Germany’s federal police, with 115 more posing a potentially high risk. There is a growing debate in Germany about monitoring extremists, and about streamlining deportation policies for extremists

Nuclear securityStudents of Nuclear Security Have a Problem. Here’s How to Help Them. Published 21 November 2020 Radioactive materials are attractive targets to thieves and other bad actors. These are rare finds, valuable on the black market and relatively easy to weaponize. New security professionals rarely learn practical skills for protecting these targets until they

ExtremismNew Research Projects to Shed New Light on the Intentions of Violent Extremists Published 19 November 2020 New research project aims to shed new light on the intentions of violent extremists. The “Disguised Compliance in Terrorist Offending” project will provide frontline staff across U.K. security agencies with the best tools and approaches to assess the

EpidemicU.S. COVID-19 Crisis Deepens as Deaths Top 250,000 By Lisa Schnirring Published 19 November 2020 As COVID-19 deaths topped 250,000 yesterday, the White House coronavirus task force signaled that the nation’s pandemic situation is worsening, with more overrun hospitals and deaths potentially approaching 2,000 a day in the lead-up to Christmas—unless strong mitigation measures are