The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) unveiled how its financial backing for SMEs has taken innovations from concept to frontline military deployments, and how these dual-use technologies are being scaled across the UK.

• Main announcement: DASA has backed projects with £35 million nationwide since July 2024 and will feed into the new UK Defence Innovation (UKDI) organisation which has a ringfenced annual budget of at least £400 million to harness commercial and dual-use innovation. Case studies include QuickBlock (ballistics/blast protection adapted from a civilian product), Trauma Simulation (Swansea University spin-out whole-body medical training models), and Sentinel Photonics (laser-protection rifle-scope attachments integrated into Armed Forces’ KS1 rifles).

• Background and details: DASA-funded companies have generated nearly £1 billion in economic value and 1,800 jobs across the UK; in 2024 DASA-backed firms raised £174 million. The MOD is creating a Defence Office for Small Business Growth and targets increasing spending with SMEs by £2.5 billion by May 2028; the Strategic Defence Review sets that 10% of MOD equipment procurement will be spent on novel technologies each year.

The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality has placed a mobile testing unit near the Rawlins Family Recreation Center to monitor air quality downwind of oil and gas operations and will host an open house on Dec. 16 to answer questions about the monitoring.

• Monitoring action & timeline: Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality placed a mobile testing unit near the Rawlins Family Recreation Center, monitoring air quality over the next year after a national group flagged nearby areas for compromised air quality; the agency will host an open house on Dec. 16 to discuss the monitoring.
• Other local government updates: Sweetwater County officials oppose extending or adding new sales tax initiatives (decision to preserve future use of the tax); Governor Mark Gordon is reviewing complaints from electors alleging misconduct by Platte County Commissioners; Teton County Sheriff’s Office deputies are enforcing a new state law that can invalidate out-of-state driver’s licenses and allow initiation of ICE holds under a state misdemeanor process.

Peng Li et al. introduce the concept of sequential Efficacy of Information (sequential EOI) and demonstrate it on synthetic 2D and realistic 3D porphyry copper cases to optimize sequences of ambient noise tomography (ANT) surveys and borehole drilling.

• Main announcement: The paper formalizes sequential EOI as a decision-making metric that quantifies expected uncertainty reduction for target variables under proposed sequences of exploration actions; authors demonstrate the approach with Monte Carlo forward modeling, neural-network-based sufficient statistics (ANN), and KDE density estimation, finding that in the 2D test the optimal plan is dense ANT followed by a large-dip-angle borehole, and in the 3D case sequential EOI identifies Pareto-optimal trade-offs across two objectives (alteration volume and alteration center location).
• Background and implementation details: The study uses object-based prior modeling for porphyry systems, evaluates ANT survey spacings of 2000 m (sparse), 750 m (medium), and 500 m (dense) and three borehole design options (including vertical and high-dip trajectories), applies Monte Carlo sampling with forward modeling to produce d1 (ANT) and d2 (borehole) outcomes, reduces data dimensionality with MDS and ANN-derived sufficient statistics, then computes EOI/sequential EOI via Monte Carlo approximations (Equations 11–15). Paper is a preprint submitted to Geophysical Journal International (published on EarthArXiv 2025-12-05); data and code are available on reasonable request to the corresponding author (pli6@stanford.edu).

Governor Gavin Newsom traveled to Capitol Hill to urge congressional leaders to secure long-delayed federal wildfire recovery funding for Los Angeles survivors.

• Main announcement/action: Governor Newsom conducted bipartisan meetings on Capitol Hill (Dec 5, 2025) with leaders including Sen. John Boozman, Sen. Alex Padilla, Rep. Adriano Espaillat, Rep. Brad Sherman, and Sen. Brian Schatz to press for a supplemental federal disaster aid package for survivors of the Palisades and Eaton Fires nearly one year after the fires; he said federal officials from the Trump Administration refused to meet and emphasized that Los Angeles survivors need federal assistance now.
• Background and details: Newsom highlighted the need for small business disaster loans, long-term housing support, expedited federal action, and federal funding to rebuild schools, childcare centers, homes, water systems, and responder infrastructure; he referenced California’s $60 billion agriculture economy, the C-130 air tanker program, a prior partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and EPA that completed the debris cleanup, and noted Congress is awaiting a formal request from the White House (the Administration has not submitted a disaster aid package, ~11 months since the President’s promise).

Clean Fuels Alliance America and the California Advanced Biofuels Alliance (CABA) submitted formal comments to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) following CARB’s public forum on biofuels and land use change.

• Main action: Clean Fuels Alliance America and CABA filed formal comments urging CARB to initiate a land use change model modernization effort in 2026, to apply updated agricultural productivity, economic and carbon modeling, to maintain appropriate treatment of waste-based feedstocks, and to provide clarity for emerging oilseed crops. The filing and full comments are available at the PDF on cleanfuels.org.
• Background and details: The filing states the organizations’ members represent the majority of the clean diesel fuel used in California and includes a quote from Cory-Ann Wind (Director of State Regulatory Affairs) supporting model modernization. Contact provided: Heather Buechter, phone 479-651-7301, email hbuechter@cleanfuels.org. The association notes funding from private companies and associations including the United Soybean Board and state checkoff organizations.