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The Aging Water Infrastructure (AWI) research program is part of EPA's larger effort called the Sustainable Water Infrastructure (SI) initiative. The SI initiative brings together drinking water and wastewater utility managers; trade associations; local watershed protection organizations; and federal, state, and local officials to ensure that all components of our nation's water infrastructure….drinking water treatment plants, drinking water distribution lines, sewer lines, and storage facilities….meet future needs. The AWI research program supports the four priority areas of the SI initiative's strategy: (1) Better Management - moving beyond compliance to sustainability and improved performance, (2) Full-cost Pricing - helping utilities to recognize the full cost of providing service over the long term, (3) Water Efficiency - promoting water efficiency in the residential and commercial sectors, (4) Watershed Approach - integrating watershed management principles and tools into utility planning and management practices. The driving force behind the SI initiative and the AWI research program is the "Clean Water and Drinking Water Infrastructure Gap Analysis." In this report, EPA estimated that if operation, maintenance, and capital investment remain at current levels, the potential funding shortage for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure could exceed $500 billion by 2020.

Research on technological change and innovation.

Technologists in the U.S. and China, experts in Japan and researchers within the European Space Agency and the United Kingdom Space Agency are all working to make space-based solar power a reality. Over the past decade, researchers have made impressive advances that increase the likelihood that space solar power (SSP) will be realized during the next decade. "Two of the biggest hurdles to the realization of SSP have always been the cost of launch and the cost of hardware. Add flight rate, and all of a sudden you're looking at numbers always talked about for solar power satellites." The experts believe that solar power satellites at scale could be available within a decade, and envision "a world in the year 2100 where about 20% of electrical power comes from terrestrial nuclear and renewables, with 80% supplied by astroelectricity."

"Researchers at the UAE University (UAEU) have invented a new desalination system that dramatically reduces energy consumption during the desalination process. By developing the new desalination system, scientists in the university's National Water and Energy Center have made an unprecedented scientific advance that has the potential to revolutionize the water desalination industry." They have been granted a US Patent and could potentially start implementation soon. 2025 (H1).

It leads to new ways to activate our brain to be more eficient during certain tasks.This achievement helps to identify the roles played by individual neurons in coordinating and carrying out behaviors which could be a cornerstone of future neural interface technologies. This research begins to teach us how the brain processes and executes goal-directed behaviors in higher-order species, giving the knowledge and tools to begin making sense of neural circuitry and coding. (Sanchez, Justin)

DARPA is always a great source! Is this H1, H2, or H3...in your view?

"Several prominent professors at U.S. colleges have participated in China's talent acquisition program, according to leaked documents from a Chinese regional authority. The professors worked with the Thousand Talents Program (TTP), a controversial state-backed recruitment plan criticized by U.S. officials for its role in transferring Western research and technology to China."

Most of what we hear about greenhouse gases is associated with carbon dioxide. This research focused on removal of methane, which would have a higher payback if a deployable solution can be identified. "...removing about three years-worth of human-caused emissions of the potent greenhouse gas would reduce global surface temperatures by approximately 0.21 degrees Celsius while reducing ozone levels enough to prevent roughly 50,000 premature deaths annually." The case for funding this technology is strong - "Removing methane from the atmosphere could reduce temperatures even faster than carbon dioxide removal alone because methane is 81 times more potent in terms of warming the climate over the first 20 years after its release, and about 27 times more potent over a century. Methane removal also improves air quality by decreasing the concentration of tropospheric ozone, exposure to which causes an estimated one million premature deaths annually worldwide due to respiratory illnesses."

Another article about nanotechnology and plants--only the plants would be grown to be edible vaccines. Instead a shot in the arm, you could eat a salad.

The third edition of NASA's "International Space Station Benefits for Humanity" book now is available. The new edition fills more than 200 pages with the many benefits of conducting research on the orbiting microgravity laboratory and includes new assessments of the economic value - as well as greater detail about the scientific value - of the International Space Station. Really this is NASA defending it's spending.

They are undifferentiated cells capable of being anything. You might know them as stem cells and now a robot can take them up your nose into your brain. "Researchers have developed a stem cell-based microrobot called "cellbot" capable of delivering stem cells to the brain via intranasal passage using a minimally invasive method. The cellbot has the potential to become a key player in the treatment of neurological disorders such as brain cancer, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease."

The Pew Research Center survey finds that publics offer mixed views about the use of robots to automate jobs. Across the 20 publics, a median of 48% say such automation has mostly been a good thing, while 42% say it has been a bad thing.

Would you eat meat grown in a lab to save the world? The $10 million award will enable the creation of the first-ever U.S. government-funded cultivated protein research center of excellence and represents U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)'s first investment in cultivated meat to date. USDA awarded the grant as a part of a $146 million investment in sustainable agricultural research projects announced by USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack on October 6.

DRIVER-SCARCITY The Industrial Revolutions improved living standards for people in most nations where technology proliferated.[1] Populations in modern societies are not overly concerned with accessing food or water on a daily basis. In particular, the availability of clean, freshwater is a reasonable expectation throughout the modern world. However, a growing lack of water ("water scarcity"), propelled by continued technological advancement and high demand, is creating a global crisis. This resource scarcity will change long-held expectations and demonstrate the capacity to disrupt the security and stability of entire regions. This Article examines the global state of freshwater scarcity[2] and the often-neglected linkages of water scarcity to economic, social, political, legal, and security consequences arising from disruptions, failures, or attacks on water access and distribution systems.[3] Our research concentrates on examples of the impacts of water scarcity from past and present utilizing selected examples from North America, the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. We contend that poorly understood links between access to adequate water and national stability pose severe global security risks, especially if technological and policy correctives are not implemented to increase water resiliency and ensure availability and access.

DRIVER-TTHMs-POLLUTION-PURITY-INFRASTRUCTURE-TREATMENT Trihalomethanes (THMs) are the result of a reaction between the chlorine used for disinfecting tap water and natural organic matter in the water. At elevated levels, THMs have been associated with negative health effects such as cancer and adverse reproductive outcomes. Now a study by government and academic researchers adds to previous evidence that dermal absorption and inhalation of THMs associated with everyday tap water use can result in significantly higher blood THM concentrations than simply drinking the water does [EHP 113:863-870]. The results of this exposure assessment study could serve as a guide for future epidemiologic investigations exploring the potential connection between THMs in tap water and adverse health effects.

DRIVER-FLINT-TREATMENT-WATER-POLLUTION-CHEMISTRY Former EPA Drinking Water Standards Director, Dr. Joseph Cotruvo developed the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) first THM Rule in 1979. I spoke with him for his perspective on TTHM in Flint's drinking water: "Scientists have studied the health effects of disinfection byproducts extensively. For example, the January 4, 2006 Federal Register,2 which announced the Stage 2 Rule, cites over 60 mixed result research studies probing the potential health effects of exposure to disinfection byproducts such as TTHM. After reviewing many studies, the Agency concluded that 'no dose response relationship or causal link has been established between exposure to chlorinated drinking water or disinfection byproducts and adverse developmental or reproductive effects.' Nevertheless, EPA takes a very precautious stand, saying the studies 'do provide an indication of a potential health concern that warrants incremental regulatory action beyond Stage 1 DBPR [Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule].'"

NPR discussion on behavioral economist's, Sendhil Mullainathan, book - Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much, co-authored with Princeton psychologist Eldar Shafir. " Poverty, they find, is like a parasite, consuming mental energy that could be put to more beneficial use. "Put simply, being poor is like having just pulled an all-nighter," Mullainathan once told NPR. And that, he says, hurts their ability to escape poverty. As Washington debates sending checks to Americans and increasing the minimum wage, a new study offers evidence for how such policies could help eliminate poverty. Obviously, giving more money to people without much money helps them with money problems. But the study adds to a growing body of research that says that money really does help workers earn more money."

DRIVER-INFRASTRUCTURE-SCARCITY-POLITICS By 2071, nearly half of the 204 freshwater basins in the United States may not be able to meet the monthly water demand. These model projections, recently published in the journal Earth's Future, are just one preliminary component of the upcoming Resources Planning Act (RPA) Assessment expected to be published next year. In 1974, congress required that this assessment of US renewable resources be published every 10 years. Conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, the research describes two causes for the projected shortages. The first is that the U.S. will simply have more people. Despite that the average American is using less water, population growth is still expected to increase water demand across most of the country. Second, the water supply itself is expected to decrease. Projected climate change affects both rain patterns and temperatures. While rainfall is expected to increase in some parts of the US, the southern Great Plains and parts of the South won't be so lucky. The water basins rely on rainfall to feed the rivers and tributaries that flow into them. Separately, more water will evaporate from reservoirs and streams as the climate gets warmer, further chipping away at the water supply. Around 50 years from now, many U.S. regions may see water supplies reduced by a third of their current size, while demand continues to increase.

DRIVER-POLITICS Many political factors impacted the development of the Colorado River Compact (now known as the Colorado River Basin Water Agreement, or CRBWA). These political factors included politicians, political agencies, legislation, and political pressure groups/lobbyists. This paper will present an in-depth administrative analysis of the impact of politics on the CRBWA. It will include historical and theoretical research, as well as interviews with present-day politicians in order to answer questions relating to the impact of politics on the original agreement. Some of the major questions asked were: What politics impacted the CRBWA and how did they affect its creation? Has the agreement achieved its goals and mission? Why or why not? What changes could be made to the CRBWA to help achieve the agreement's mission and goals?

Splashy headlines have long overshadowed inconvenient truths about biology and economics. Now, extensive new research suggests the industry may be on a billion-dollar crash course with reality.

Please add a short description here...and...is this H1, H2, or H3...in your view?