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Innovation in Homeland Security Lives Between Sectors

#homelandsecurity #innovation


Having been involved in the creation of the Department of Homeland Security’s Science & Technology Directorate, and with decades of experience working at the intersection of government, industry, and academia, I have come to a simple but important observation: innovation in homeland security doesn’t happen in one area. Instead, it thrives where mission, research, and engineering come together.

Convergence is the catalyst. Cyber defense, autonomous systems, identity management, quantum computing, and photonics are all examples of technological advancements that didn’t develop in isolation. Their progress was the result of different sectors working together on shared goals, risk management, and practical use. Homeland security enterprise is constituted by a multi-sectoral nature: government sets mission needs, industry creates scalable solutions, and academia provides the necessary research. Real innovation happens when these areas come together.

Statistical data highlights the significance of this alignment. Research on cyber-behavior, for instance, demonstrates that organizational culture, national context, and employee backgrounds significantly impact risk outcomes. Practically speaking, this implies that secure systems cannot be developed in isolation. The human and institutional context is as crucial as technical advancements.

Why the long interface? AI systems don’t ‘get’ the joke, research reveals

Powerful artificial intelligence (AI) systems, like ChatGPT and Gemini, simulate understanding of comedy wordplay, but never really “get the joke,” a new study suggests.

Researchers wanted to find out whether large language models (LLMs) can understand puns—also known as paronomasia—wordplay that relies on double meanings or sound-alike words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect.

While earlier studies suggest LLMs could process this type of humor in a similar way to humans, the team from Cardiff University and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice found AI systems mostly memorize familiar joke structures rather than actually understand them.

Malicious Blender model files deliver StealC infostealing malware

A Russian-linked campaign delivers the StealC V2 information stealer malware through malicious Blender files uploaded to 3D model marketplaces like CGTrader.

Blender is a powerful open-source 3D creation suite that can execute Python scripts for automation, custom user interface panels, add-ons, rendering processes, rigging tools, and pipeline integration.

If the Auto Run feature is enabled, when a user opens a character rig, a Python script can automatically load the facial controls and custom UI panels with the required buttons and sliders.

The future of AI

Artificial intelligence is booming. Technology companies are pouring trillions of dollars into research and infrastructure, and millions of people now interact with AI in one form or another. But what is it all for?

To find out, Nature spoke to six people at the forefront of AI development — people who are driving the technology’s development and adoption, and those who are preparing society to adapt to its rapid rise.

In this video series, they describe their greatest ambitions for the technology, their expectations of where and how it will be adopted in the coming years, and their concerns for the future.

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