Extramural research would make some small gains and a new lab could receive construction funding, though a proposal for new innovation institutes was ignored.

Appropriators largely agreed on DHS R&D funding levels, which could reach their highest point in five years.

The rise of tuberculosis (TB) in North Korea has been swift. According to a 2012 report by the World Health Organization, reported cases went from fewer than 50 per 100,000 people in 1994 to 380 cases per 100,000 people in 2011. Today, the incidence of TB in North Korea is second only to that in sub-Saharan Africa.

There have been significant improvements during the past decade in the worldwide ability to detect covert nuclear explosions equivalent to only a few hundred tons of chemical explosive, experts told a recent AAAS-organized discussion on Capitol Hill.

All but the most determined efforts at evasion likely would be spotted by a growing array of seismometers, radiation monitors, and other devices designed to detect nuclear blasts underground, underwater, in the atmosphere, and in space, they said.

Science and engineering research have traditionally had bipartisan support in Congress, but bipartisanship is becoming increasingly hard to find. As a result, that support has become endangered, Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico) told the 2012-2013 class of AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellows during their orientation. But, he thinks they can help reverse that trend.