When the natural environment is stretched beyond its ability to meet basic human needs for food, clean air, drinkable water and shelter, it is not just a humanitarian concern for the world community. Research shows that these crises are a matter of national security for the U.S. and other countries. The Pentagon and the U.S. intelligence community have long paid close attention to the influence of climate change on national security. Although recent intelligence reports of the Trump administration have omitted any mention of climate change, prior intelligence reports have shown how climate change can generate flash points for global conflict, affect how troops and equipment work, and influence which defense locations are vulnerable. The effects of ecological disruptions on national security get less attention. But they, too, can cause social and political instability, economic strife and strained international relations. Ecological disruptions occur when ecosystems that provide natural resources are compromised and can no longer meet basic human needs. Examples include overfishing, human disease and environmental crime....

Next time you cross a crowded plaza, crosswalk, or airport concourse, take note of the pedestrian flow. Are people walking in orderly lanes, single-file, to their respective destinations' Or is it a haphazard tangle of personal trajectories, as people dodge and weave through the crowd' MIT instructor Karol Bacik and his colleagues studied the flow of human crowds and developed a first-of-its-kind way to predict when pedestrian paths will transition from orderly to entangled. Their findings may help inform the design of public spaces that promote safe and efficient thoroughfares. In a paper appearing this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers consider a common scenario in which pedestrians navigate a busy crosswalk. The team analyzed the scenario through mathematical analysis and simulations, considering the many angles at which individuals may cross and the dodging maneuvers they may make as they attempt to reach their destinations while avoiding bumping into other pedestrians along the way....

Google is rolling out a new Gmail update that is designed to help you find the email you're looking for more quickly. The company announced on Thursday that it will now use AI to consider factors like recency, most-clicked emails, and frequent contacts when surfacing emails based on your search query. 'With this update, the emails you're looking for are far more likely to be at the top of your search results ' saving you valuable time and helping you find important information more easily,' the company wrote in a blog post. Google is also introducing a new toggle so people can switch between 'Most relevant' or 'Most recent' emails on a search results page. The toggle is aimed at users who prefer seeing search results displayed in chronological order, rather than the new 'Most relevant' default option. The update is rolling out globally for users with personal Google accounts and is available on the web and in the Gmail app for Android and iOS. Google plans to expand the feature to business users in the future....

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued new instructions to scientists that partner with the US Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute (AISI) that eliminate mention of 'AI safety,' 'responsible AI,' and 'AI fairness' in the skills it expects of members and introduces a request to prioritize 'reducing ideological bias, to enable human flourishing and economic competitiveness.' The information comes as part of an updated cooperative research and development agreement for AI Safety Institute consortium members, sent in early March. Previously, that agreement encouraged researchers to contribute technical work that could help identify and fix discriminatory model behavior related to gender, race, age, or wealth inequality. Such biases are hugely important because they can directly affect end users and disproportionately harm minorities and economically disadvantaged groups. The new agreement removes mention of developing tools 'for authenticating content and tracking its provenance' as well as 'labeling synthetic content,' signaling less interest in tracking misinformation and deep fakes. It also adds emphasis on putting America first, asking one working group to develop testing tools 'to expand America's global AI position.'...