As we come out of the Thanksgiving holiday break, there is a backlog of exciting stories about innovations initiated by federal government agencies.  The CDC is leading the way with data analytics, new liquid scanners could potentially lift airport liquid bans, and NASA is developing something called “genius materials.”  Be sure to read about this and much more in this week’s Federal News Round Up.

Cloud Computing May Save U.S. Government $20 Billion A Year
A new study suggests that adoption of cloud offerings can cut the cost of U.S. government application development by $20.5 billion a year.

How the CDC’s Trailblazing Use of Analytics Fights Disease
A new report identifies lessons learned to help federal leaders to create data-driven cultures. A key component of this report is a case study about how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention uses data to more quickly detect food-borne illness outbreaks.

Funding Bill Backs Intelligence Community’s IT Consolidation
The House Intelligence Committee has approved a bill that would fully fund an effort to consolidate and modernize information technology.

DHS-Funded Liquid Scanner Could Lift Airport Ban on Larger Bottles
The Energy Department’s Los Alamos National Laboratory recently demonstrated a magnetic resonance imaging system which is better than X-rays at differentiating bomb-making substances from benign substances. This means that travelers could potentially bring liquids through airport security.

VA Taps Twitter Researcher for Digital Media Geek Dream Team
The Department of Veterans Affairs has signed on Mark Trammell, who worked as a senior design researcher at Twitter from 2009 to 2012, as a volunteer Designer-in-Residence for its Digital Media Team.

NASA is Creating “Genius Materials” on Board ISS
NASA is now working on a new class of materials called “genius materials,” which would be able to self-assemble into a molecular orientation much like an engineered smart material.