Monthly Archives: <span>January 2017</span>

Earthquake Clusters May Occur on Faults With Long Term Memory

Northwestern University researchers now have an answer to a vexing age-old question: Why do earthquakes sometimes come in clusters? The research team has developed a new computer model and discovered that earthquake faults are smarter — in the sense of …

Business News: IDT 911, Next Insurance, Brentwood Service Administrators

IDT911 Changes Name to CyberScout IDT911 has changed its name to CyberScout. CyberScout offers comprehensive identity management and data security services for more than 17.5 million households and 770,000 businesses. CyberScout’s services are provided through more than 660 client partners, …

People News: BETA Healthcare Group, Next Level Administrators, W.R. Berkley

McGhee Named Vice President of Workers’ Comp, BETA Healthcare Group BETA Healthcare Group, a professional liability insurer of hospitals in California and workers’ compensation coverage for over 40,000 healthcare workers in the state, named Dave McGhee vice president of Workers’ …

Benefits of Self-Driving Cars Weighed Against Moral Issues

Imagine you’re behind the wheel when your brakes fail. As you speed toward a crowded crosswalk, you’re confronted with an impossible choice: veer right and mow down a large group of elderly people or veer left into a woman pushing …

Satellite Tracking for Airplanes Over Oceans on the Horizon

Nearly three years after a Malaysian airliner vanished, it’s still possible, if unlikely, for a plane to disappear. But that’s changing with new satellites that will soon allow flights to be tracked in real time over oceans. New international safety …

Tennessee Wildfires Cause $842M in Insurance Claims

State officials say insurance claims have topped $842 million in the deadly eastern Tennessee wildfires that burned thousands of buildings. The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance provided the number to the Knoxville News Sentinel. The department says as of …

Tesla’s Autopilot Vindicated With 40% Drop in Crashes

Tesla’s driver-assistance features, known collectively as Autopilot, have been vindicated. The U.S. Department of Transportation closed its investigation into a May 7 collision with a tractor trailer that killed a driver using Autopilot. The agency found no indication of a …

Extreme Solar Storm-Induced Blackouts May Cost U.S. More Than $40B Daily

The daily U.S. economic cost from solar storm-induced electricity blackouts could be in the tens of billions of dollars, with more than half the loss from indirect costs outside the blackout zone, according to a new study. Previous studies have …

West Virginia Trial Against Subaru for Motorist Death Begins Jan. 23

Nearly eight years after a car wreck claimed the lives of a mother and two teens in Cabell County, a trial is set to begin in a lawsuit against Subaru. The trial is slated for Jan. 23 in Kanawha County, …

Earth Sets Heat Record 3 Years in a Row

Earth sizzled to a third-straight record hot year in 2016, government scientists said Wednesday. They mostly blame man-made global warming with help from a natural El Nino, which has since disappeared. Measuring global temperatures in slightly different ways, NASA and …