Technology Assessment: Artificial Intelligence: Emerging Opportunities,...
What the Participants Discussed Forum participants noted a range of opportunities and challenges related to artificial intelligence (AI), as well as areas needed for future research and for...
View ArticleCritical Infrastructure Protection: Protecting the Electric Grid from...
What GAO Found Geomagnetic disturbances (GMD), a result of space weather, pose a risk to the U.S. electric grid, although it is not clear how severe a risk. When GMDs occur, they can cause...
View ArticleIrrigated Agriculture: Technologies, Practices, and Implications for Water...
What GAO Found In the United States, irrigation accounts for more than 40 percent of freshwater use. Several areas in the nation are both heavily irrigated and considered water stressed. Farmers can...
View ArticleArtificial Intelligence in Health Care: Benefits and Challenges of Machine...
What GAO Found Machine learning—a field of artificial intelligence (AI) in which software learns from data to perform a task—is already used in drug development and holds the potential to transform the...
View ArticleForensic Technology: Algorithms Used in Federal Law Enforcement
What GAO Found Federal law enforcement agencies GAO reviewed are primarily using three types of forensic algorithms to help assess whether or not evidence collected in a criminal investigation may have...
View ArticleCovid-19: Data Quality and Considerations for Modeling and Analysis
What GAO Found The rapid spread and magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic have underscored the importance of having quality data, analyses, and models describing the potential trajectory of COVID-19 to...
View Article5G Wireless: Capabilities and Challenges for an Evolving Network
What GAO Found Fifth-generation (5G) wireless networks promise to provide significantly greater speeds and higher capacity to accommodate more devices. In addition, 5G networks are expected to be more...
View ArticleArtificial Intelligence in Health Care: Benefits and Challenges of...
What GAO Found Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools have shown promise for augmenting patient care in the following two areas: Clinical AI tools have shown promise in predicting health trajectories of...
View ArticleDefense Navigation Capabilities: DOD is Developing Positioning, Navigation,...
What GAO Found The Department of Defense (DOD) plans to keep the Global Positioning System (GPS) at the core of its positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) solution, using other PNT technology to...
View ArticleForensic Technology: Algorithms Strengthen Forensic Analysis, but Several...
What GAO Found Law enforcement agencies primarily use three kinds of forensic algorithms in criminal investigations: latent print, facial recognition, and probabilistic genotyping. Each offers...
View ArticleExposure Notification: Benefits and Challenges of Smartphone Applications to...
Why GAO Did This Study With the emergence and rapid global spread of COVID-19, smartphone apps have been developed to supplement manual contact tracing, which is a public health measure used to slow...
View ArticleQuantum Computing and Communications: Status and Prospects
What GAO Found Quantum information technologies aim to use the properties of nature at atomic scales to accomplish tasks that are not achievable with existing technologies. These technologies rely on...
View ArticleVaccine Development: Capabilities and Challenges for Addressing Infectious...
What GAO Found Vaccines protect people from disease by preparing the body to respond to an infection. Vaccinations are a key part of individual and community health, but vaccine development remains...
View ArticleBlockchain: Emerging Technology Offers Benefits for Some Applications but...
What GAO Found Blockchain combines several technologies to provide a trusted, tamper-resistant record of transactions by multiple parties without a central authority such as a bank. Blockchain can be...
View ArticlePersistent Chemicals: Technologies for PFAS Assessment, Detection, and Treatment
What GAO Found Current and promising technologies and methods could accelerate assessment of human health effects caused by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and improve the detection and...
View ArticleDecarbonization: Status, Challenges, and Policy Options for Carbon Capture,...
What GAO Found Many technologies for carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) are ready for wider demonstration or deployment, but multiple challenges limit their use. Carbon capture includes...
View ArticleArtificial Intelligence in Health Care: Benefits and Challenges of Machine...
What GAO Found Several machine learning (ML) technologies are available in the U.S. to assist with the diagnostic process. The resulting benefits include earlier detection of diseases; more consistent...
View ArticleLarge Constellations of Satellites: Mitigating Environmental and Other Effects
What GAO Found There are almost 5,500 active satellites in orbit as of spring 2022, and one estimate predicts the launch of an additional 58,000 by 2030. Large constellations of satellites in low Earth...
View ArticlePandemic Origins: Technologies and Challenges for Biological Investigations
What GAO Found Determining the likely origin of pandemics is challenging. Researchers may use several technologies to investigate a pandemic’s origin. For example, researchers use technologies such as...
View ArticleUtility-Scale Energy Storage: Technologies and Challenges for an Evolving Grid
What GAO Found Technologies to store energy at the utility-scale could help improve grid reliability, reduce costs, and promote the increased adoption of variable renewable energy sources such as solar...
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