Federal and local authorities ramped up security measures across downtown Washington, D.C. this weekend, with businesses installing protective barriers and federal buildings receiving additional fortification ahead of Tuesday's presidential election.

American diplomatic efforts to conduct people-to-people contacts and exchanges in China are being blocked by Chinese intelligence and security services.

President-elect Donald Trump's victory in Tuesday's presidential contest sets in motion the selection of key officials for a forthcoming administration through a transition team headed by some of his family and key supporters, including selections for a number of key senior national security positions.

England great Wayne Rooney was fired as the manager of second-tier club Birmingham on Tuesday after 15 games.

President-elect Donald Trump has asked U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz, a retired Army National Guard officer and war veteran, to be his national security adviser, a person familiar with the matter said Monday.

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to select South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to lead the Department of Homeland Security, naming a loyal ally to carry out his border security and deportation plans.

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Alexei Popyrin upset fourth-seeded Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (4) in the second round of the Paris Masters on Wednesday in a tense match with many ups and downs.

Donald Trump's election win is clouding the outlook for mortgage rates even before he gets back to the White House.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said there are "no credible threats" to the District ahead of Tuesday's presidential election, despite several downtown businesses boarding up their buildings and the White House and other federal properties erecting climb-proof fencing along their perimeters.

Ward 8 voters on Tuesday sent incumbent Trayon White back to the D.C. Council for a third term, even as the embattled lawmaker faces a federal bribery case that clouds his political future.

We visit Baltimore Clayworks, where artist Sam Wallace teaches a pottery technique he learned as a kid in Jamaica. We talk with the crew at The Mount Washington Tavern about romance, oyster shucking, and a major fire that put the place out of business for a year. And we drop in at The Village Vet, where the staff cares for ailing animals and the worried humans that come along with them.

There is no such a thing as a perfect season. At least that is what Roger Penske told The Associated Press hours after winning his third consecutive NASCAR championship.

The president-elect and vice president-elect undoubtedly understand that until they are inaugurated an existential threat shadows both of them.

The incoming Trump administration has a message for left-leaning Justice Department employees hoping to block or interfere with the new president's agenda: Get out.

There's a reason we heard so much about extreme heat deaths over the summer.

TikTok has been forced to close its offices in Vancouver and Toronto because Canadian security and intelligence officials said activity at the offices threatened the national security of Canada, a charge that TikTok plans to fight in court.

Amazon is bringing back the video game adaptation for another year after one of Prime Video's biggest premieres.

The post Fallout TV Series Gets A Second Season first appeared on SciFi Stream.

Care about biodiversity protection and science-policy dialogue? The second BESAFE stakeholder workshop might be just the thing for you.

The BESAFE project invites all interested policy makers, NGO representatives, decision makers and people, who argue ('lobby') for biodiversity protection to take part in its second stakeholder workshop, focusing the results from the project case studies and the best ways to make them useful through a stakeholder focused web-based tool.

The workshop will be held on 13 and 14 May 2004 at the Park Inn Brussels Midi, Brussels, Belgium. To register and participate is easy just follow this link, which will take you to an easy to follow and use registration page.

On the afternoon of 13 May BESAFE will present the results of the project’s case studies and then their use and implications will be discussed with stakeholders. The morning of 14 May is reserved for a learning workshop on the best ways to unlock and present project results. As committed stakeholder involvement is crucial to BESAFE’s success, we hope that you will be able to join us in Brussels!

In a nutshell, BESAFE investigates the effectiveness of different types of arguments in convincing policy makers to take action for biodiversity protection in a variety of circumstances. The project has two specific focus areas: the interactions of environmental protection policies between governance scales, and the contribution that ecosystem services BESAFE is committed to produce practically usable results and to make them available and easily accessible through a web-based tool. This is a goal we can clearly only achieve through input and feedback from stakeholders. BESAFE is therefore set up as an interactive project in which we inform and consult those on a regular basis.

Deadline for registration is the 1st of April 2014, but registration will be closed earlier when our limit of 25 stakeholders is reached. Due to this limited capacity, registration is subject to approval.

The 3rd International Conference on Biodiversity and the UN Millennium Development Goals will take place between October 29-31, 2014 in Aix-en-Provence, France. under the tematic title "Biodiversity and Food Security – From Trade-offs to Synergies".

The second EU BON Roundtable took place on 27 November 2014 at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin. The workshop was dedicated to explore ways in which EU BON can support citizen science (CS) activities. Many partners and interested stakeholders participated, coming from different European research institutions, Natural History Museums, SMEs or representatives from European Institutions like European Commission (DG Research & Innovation and the Joint Research Centre) or the European Environmental Agency and EU-funded Citizen Observatories projects. On secondment to the Earth Observation Sector at DG Research and Innovation, European Commission, Jose-Miguel Rubio-Iglesias showed the possibilities of Citizen Science as one option to improve the science-society bridge. In the following interview he gives an overview of the topic covered and his participation at the round table.

Jose-Miguel Rubio-Iglesias gave a talk on improving the science-society-policy bridge by Citizen Science

Jose-Miguel Rubio-Iglesias, Policy Officer (Spanish National Centre for Geographic Information, on secondment to the European Commission)

Q: Where do you see the place of citizen science in the future of European research and innovation efforts?

A: I see a brilliant future of Citizen Science as a driver for research and innovation activities, especially in its shape of "Citizens' Observatories". The vertiginous increase in the use of mobile technologies, with a pervasive Internet accessible to everyone and social media usage at its peak, offers a world of opportunities for research and innovation in the domain of environmental monitoring technologies where citizens have a key role to play. Citizen science can also foster advancement in social innovation as these are normally collective actions carried out by citizens, sometimes in partnership with NGOs, researchers and public organisations, which are bringing benefits for the whole society. Furthermore, the European Union's Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon 2020, is already offering a framework to mainstream public engagement in science and research, from programming to implementation and evaluation, being citizen science a one of the key instruments to realise this objective. Data and information gathering, results interpretation and co-creation are examples of activities in which citizens can be involved, leading to different kinds of innovation, including social innovation.

Q: What are the success factors for citizen science? What are the challenges for Citizen Science on a European scale?

A: In my opinion there is no magic formula to achieve success in a citizen science activity, nor any plug-and-play solution. There are many variables that have to be considered, such as the thematic, spatial or temporal scope of the activity. But a common element that seems to be an ingredient for success is to plan carefully not only the process of engagement but the feedback mechanisms, so citizens realise their actions and the outcomes of what they have done are really being useful. Working on creating a strong perception of ownership is always a success factor on a voluntary initiative.

I see a number of challenges for Citizen Science at a European scale, especially, the need for a better coordination of the local and regional activities. This can avoid duplication of initiatives, foster best practices across activities and help position better citizen science vis-à-vis the EU and national and local governments, so citizen science can be higher up on their agendas. In this sense, I think the role of associations such as ECSA (European Citizen Science  Association) is key in achieving this coordination.

Q: How can EU projects on biodiversity information like EU BON facilitate the process?

A: EU BON, like other EU projects which have biodiversity information as a focus, has an important role to make visible the knowledge treasured by citizen science groups. The European Biodiversity Portal, one of the EU BON main achievements, is a fantastic opportunity to open up the wealth of biodiversity data which has been collected by citizens throughout Europe, making it available for a better informed decision making in those areas in which biodiversity has a role.

Q: Where do you see the place of large European Earth observation projects such as EU BON in the global context?

A: The biodiversity information system resulting from EU BON is one of the main European contributions to GEO BON (GEO Biodiversity Observation Network), which is a flagship initiative of GEO (Group on Earth Observation). GEO BON is joining forces at international level to coordinate the activities relating to the Societal Benefit Area on Biodiversity of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). Its main goals are to organize and improve terrestrial, freshwater and marine biodiversity observations globally and make their biodiversity data, information and forecasts more readily accessible to policymakers, managers, experts and other users. As EU BON is creating a stable and open-access platform for sharing biodiversity tools and data, taking stock of existing components such as LifeWatch or GBIF, this is clearly a step forward towards the fulfilment of the objectives of GEO BON.

At global level, EU BON and GEOBON are strategically positioned to contribute to delivery of data for the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

Finally, together with EU BON, other large EU Earth Observation projects, such as SIGMA or Earth2Observe, are also providing an important contribution at global level to GEO, in this case to the GEO Societal Benefit Areas of Agriculture (GEO-GLAM) and Water respectively. 

NOTE: The views expressed in this interview are only of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the European Commission. 

The second WP6 and 7 workshop was organised by CNRS and took place from 16 to 18 of February in Aix-en-Provence, France. During this meeting, partners brainstormed on possible cross work package papers, products and tasks. Partner’s enthusiasm for the ongoing work and possible impact of EU BON outputs fuelled energetic discussions.

Participants at the workshop. Credit: Florian Wetzel

Topics on the agenda include:

The possibilities of visualisations like Aquamaps and Fishbase to provide information for Marine policy targets or for capacity building on marine biodiversity information. We were very happy to have Sandrine Vaz from IFREMER, Montpellier joining us as an expert on marine data and its policy context.

For the EU BON business plan, the next steps were defined for its development, part of which Pan Xingliang will explore in his masters project. One of the steps will include a strategy meeting with other initiatives and European projects that face the same challenge of ensuring life of their products and networks of knowledge after the project end date.

The objective of the third stakeholder round table was further defined based on lessons learned from previous stakeholder round tables and identifying the information needs from the data portal for EU BON from our EU BON test case study regions.

A Special Section: "Conservation in Europe as a model for emerging conservation issues globally" is featured in the Early View module of Conservation Biology online. The section includes: 

Mapping opportunities and challenges for rewilding in Europe

Silvia Ceaușu, Max Hofmann, Laetitia M. Navarro, Steve Carver, Peter H. Verburg and Henrique M. Pereira

John D. C. Linnell, Petra Kaczensky, Ulrich Wotschikowsky, Nicolas Lescureux and Luigi Boitani

DOI: 10.1111/cobi.12534

The iEvoBio Meeting, 2013, will take place in Snowbird, Utah between June 25-26, in conjunction with Evolution 2013. It aims to bring together biologists working in evolution, systematics and biodiversity, with software developers, and mathematicians.
The keynote speakers for iEvoBio 2013 will be Dr. Heather Piwowar and Dr. Holly Bik.
Submissions for participation in the conference are now open. There are three ways to participate:
- Lightning Talk: present for 5 min on a method, idea, or software product about bioinformatics.
- Software Bazaar: Demo your open-source software product.
- Birds of a Feather: Suggest or participate in an informal group of folks with a common interest. Suggestions will be considered both before and during the meeting.

Find out the whole Program here.
More details about registration can be found here.

The second session of the IPBES plenary (IPBES-2) is now assigned to be held in Antalya, Turkey from 9 to 14 December 2013, following the decision of the IPBES Bureau.

As part of the current intersessional process, various draft documents prepared by the Bureau and Multidisciplinary Expert Panel will be available online for review at: www.ipbes.net/intersessional-process. These includes the draft IPBES work programme, stakeholder engagement strategy, guidance on the development of strategic partnerships, and procedures for the preparation of IPBES deliverables. In addition, various regional consultations in preparation for IPBES-2 are also under preparation. Further details can be found at www.ipbes.net/related-events.

The deadline for registration is August 19th, and it should be noted that it will not be possible for any non-government observers who were not present at IPBES-1 to register to participate in IPBES-2 after this date.

Details of the online registration process can be found at www.ipbes.net/plenary/registration-ipbes-2 

The goal is to identify science-based solutions for global sustainability focusing on the issues of biodiversity and food security. Current ecological, economic and societal challenges for development require a holistic understanding of food security and environmental management: from this perspective, biodiversity can be seen as key to overcome trade-offs and to develop synergies between the food system and the conservation of landscapes, ecosystems, and species. The conference seeks to attract scientists from basic and applied research. It involves policy makers and other stakeholders concerned with biodiversity and food security themes who are interested in developing new solutions and strategies. It will connect researchers and stakeholders from natural sciences, social sciences, economics, humanities, technology and related fields.

http://biodiv2014.sciencesconf.org/

The second EU BON WP6 & 7 Workshop will take place from 16 to18 Feb 2015  in Aix-en-Provence, France.

The objective of the workshop is to further develop on cross WP and task interactions and to define outputs. 

President-elect Donald Trump has asked U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz, a retired Army National Guard officer and war veteran, to be his national security adviser, a person familiar with the matter says

The post Trump asks Rep. Mike Waltz, China hawk, to be his national security adviser appeared first on Boston.com.

Hernández, who hit 33 homers to earn an All-Star nod, helped the Dodgers win the World Series in 2024.

The post Red Sox reportedly interested in Teoscar Hernández for a second straight offseason appeared first on Boston.com.

"They’re definitely planning on being very active in the free agent market."

The post MLB agent Scott Boras claims Red Sox are ‘wanting to secure high-level players’ this offseason appeared first on Boston.com.

"Every time you hear a piano note, that's another mass shooting." A new way to hear the stark numbers on gun violence.

Also: Adam Lankford, a criminology professor, turns to data to explain why the US has more mass shootings than any other country; Susan Cruz, a Salvadoran-American, remembers holding a gun at the age of six; two sisters with different opinions on guns go to a shooting range; we learn about the origins of the Second Amendment; plus we hear from faith leaders all over the US.

(Image: Visitors view gun displays at a National Rifle Association outdoor sports trade show on February 10, 2017 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Credit: Dominick Reuter/Getty Images)

Approximately every 30 seconds, a United States citizen of Latin American descent, reaches the voting age of 18. This year, 32 million Latinos are projected to be eligible to vote. Latinos are one of the largest demographic groups in the US. We’ll learn about the history of the ‘Latino vote’ in the US, we’ll meet young Latino voters, and we’ll look into how both major US political parties are trying to gain young Latino support in the lead-up to the election.

(From left, Kathleen Hilibish, 68, and Judi Longacre, 79, volunteer at the voter registration booth at the Perry Township Oktoberfest at Hartwick Park in Canton, Ohio. Credit: Dustin Franz/Getty Images)

Standup comic and actor Bill Burr will host for the second time with Mk.gee as musical guest.

The post ‘Saturday Night Live’ to take on a second Trump term after focusing on Harris appeared first on Boston.com.

In a flurry of announcements, Trump also named Bill McGinley, his Cabinet secretary in his first administration, as his White House counsel.

The post Trump nominates Fox News host Pete Hegseth for defense secretary appeared first on Boston.com.

Rubio was elected to the Senate in 2010 and has staked out a position as a foreign policy hawk, taking hard lines on China, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba in particular.

The post Trump expected to name Marco Rubio as secretary of state appeared first on Boston.com.

As homeland security secretary, Noem would lead a sprawling federal bureaucracy with a $60 billion budget and more than 230,000 employees.

The post Trump picks Gov. Kristi Noem to serve as homeland security secretary appeared first on Boston.com.

Here are the top five MLB second basemen set to become free agents this winter.

This week Zorba and Karl discuss how children’s food pickiness may be pre-disposed, and they talk about why black women are more likely to undergo unnecessary C-sections. Plus, they share […]

After receiving mostly negative feedback about the recent layout change, I've now reverted it (for logged in users). Will probably add it back as a toggle in your settings in near future.

Once upon a time, science and magic were two sides of the same coin. Today, we learn science in school and save magic for children’s books. What if it were different? What would it be like to see the world as an alchemist?

Original Air Date: September 19, 2020

Guests:

Sarah Durn — Pamela Smith — William Newman — Charles Monroe-Kane — Jason Pine

Interviews In This Hour:

Transmutation Of The Spirit — The Historical Lessons Embedded in Alchemical Recipes — Was Sir Isaac Newton 'The Last of the Magicians'? — The Buried Secrets of Czech Alchemy — Drug Store Alchemy in the Ozarks

Further Reading:

Maier: Atalanta Fugiens

Using a complex network of chemical signals, trees talk to each other and form alliances with fellow trees, even other species. In fact, whole forests exist as a kind of superorganism. And some trees are incredibly old. Did you know a single bristlecone pine can live up to 6,000 years? And the root mass of aspens might live 100,000 years? We explore the science and history of trees and talk with Richard Powers about his epic novel "The Overstory."

Original Air Date: April 28, 2018

Guests: 

Mark Hirsch — Richard Powers — Suzanne Simard — Amos Clifford — Daegan Miller

Interviews In This Hour: 

A Year In The Life Of A Tree — Listening to the Mother Trees — Richard Powers on Writing the Inner Life of Trees — Bathing in the Beauty of the Trees — General Sherman, Karl Marx, and Other Aliases of Earth's Largest Tree

Take heed that cyber security is critical for your company—and cash flow.

Dan Corry says funding mechanisms guarantee competition not collaboration, contracts promote short termism and there is a 'real absence of data'