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Comment Quotes from another article about 3-D building. (Score 1) 45

by Futurepower(R) (#65335537) Attached to: Starbucks Opens Its First 3D-Printed Store
Article:

12 Examples of 3D-Printed Houses
3D-printed houses can be made in a matter of hours at a fraction of the cost of conventional construction methods.

Quotes:

"With minimal human oversight, these highly customizable structures can be built on-site or off-site within a matter of hours at a fraction of the cost."

"Following a digital blueprint, a 3D printer will dispense a paste-like mixture. This will consist of choice ingredients — often a cement blend — but can range from sand and special polymers to bio-resins, like soil, clay or wood flour, which is a fine sawdust mixed with a corn-based binder."

"ICON, a 3D-printing construction company, said it could produce a 600 to 800-square-foot, economy-sized building for as low as $4,000 in 24 hours."

Submission + - China shares rare Moon rocks (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by AmiMoJo
AmiMoJo writes: China will let scientists from six countries, including the US, examine the rocks it collected from the Moon — a scientific collaboration that comes as the two countries remain locked in a bitter trade war.

Two Nasa-funded US institutions have been granted access to the lunar samples collected by the Chang'e-5 mission in 2020, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said on Thursday.

CNSA chief Shan Zhongde said that the samples were "a shared treasure for all humanity," local media reported.

Chinese researchers have not been able to access Nasa's Moon samples because of restrictions imposed by US lawmakers on the space agency's collaboration with China.

Under the 2011 law, Nasa is banned from collaboration with China or any Chinese-owned companies unless it is specifically authorised by Congress.

But John Logsdon, the former director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, told BBC Newshour that the latest exchange of Moon rocks have "very little to do with politics".

While there are controls on space technology, the examination of lunar samples had "nothing of military significance", he said.

"It's international cooperation in science which is the norm."

Submission + - 50+ House Democrats demand answers after whistleblower report on DOGE (npr.org) 2

Submitted by echo123
echo123 writes: Over fifty Democratic lawmakers have signed a letter demanding answers from senior U.S. government officials about a recent potential exposure of sensitive data about American workers.

The letter is addressed to the acting General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, William Cowen. The independent agency is in charge of investigating and adjudicating complaints about unfair labor practices and protecting U.S. workers' rights to form unions.

The lawmakers, who are part of the Congressional Labor Caucus, wrote the letter in light of news first reported by NPR, that a whistleblower inside the IT Department of the NLRB says DOGE may have removed sensitive labor data and exposed NLRB systems to being compromised.

"These revelations from the whistleblower report are highly concerning for a number of reasons," the lawmakers wrote in the letter to Cowen. "If true, these revelations describe a reckless approach to the handling of sensitive personal information of workers, which could leave these workers exposed to retaliation for engaging in legally protected union activity."

The letter refers to an official whistleblower disclosure made by Daniel Berulis, a cloud administrator in the IT department of the NLRB, who also spoke to NPR in multiple interviews.

In his disclosure, Berulis shared that he initially became concerned in March when members of President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency initiative arrived at the agency and demanded high-level access to the systems without their activities being logged. Those fears escalated after he tracked a large chunk of data leaving the agency at the same time as many security controls and auditing tools were turned off, the disclosure continues.

Ultimately, Berulis became concerned that DOGE, which is effectively led by Trump adviser and billionaire CEO Elon Musk, could have accessed sensitive internal information about ongoing investigations into U.S. companies, witness affidavits and even corporate secrets. The alleged insecure practices and removal of data could also create vulnerabilities for criminal hackers or foreign adversaries to exploit, Berulis explained in his official disclosure.

Submission + - China Created 10,000× Faster, 400 Picosecond Flash Memory (interestingengineering.com)

Submitted by hackingbear
hackingbear writes: A research team at Fudan University in Shanghai, China has built the fastest semiconductor storage device ever reported, a nonvolatile flash memory dubbed “PoX” that programs a single bit in 400 picoseconds (0.0000000004 s) — roughly 25 billion operations per second. Conventional static and dynamic RAM (SRAM, DRAM) write data in 1–10 nanoseconds but lose everything when power is cut while current flash chips typically need micro to milliseconds per write — far too slow for modern AI accelerators that shunt terabytes of parameters in real time. The Fudan group, led by Prof. Zhou Peng at the State Key Laboratory of Integrated Chips and Systems, reengineered flash physics by replacing silicon channels with two dimensional Dirac graphene and exploiting its ballistic charge transport. Combining ultralow energy with picosecond write speeds could eliminate separate highspeed SRAM caches and remove the longstanding memory bottleneck in AI inference and training hardware, where data shuttling, not arithmetic, now dominates power budgets. The team, which is now scaling the cell architecture and pursuing arraylevel demonstrations, did not disclose endurance figures or fabrication yield, but the graphene channel suggests compatibility with existing 2Dmaterial processes that global fabs are already exploring. The result is published in Nature.

Submission + - Microsoft now pushing advertising through Windows (techradar.com)

Submitted by sinij
sinij writes:

The notification is labelled âsuggestedâ(TM) and is for the Avowed Premium Edition, urging me to âforge my destinyâ(TM) and click a button that says âBuy Nowâ(TM) (or alternatively, thereâ(TM)s a button to âDismissâ(TM)).

This happens on all versions of Windows, including Pro. Zero surprise that Microsoft is finding creative ways to abuse paid customers.

Submission + - Existing EV batteries may last up to 40% longer than expected (stanford.edu)

Submitted by fahrbot-bot
fahrbot-bot writes: Consumers’ real-world stop-and-go driving of electric vehicles benefits batteries more than the steady use simulated in almost all laboratory tests of new battery designs, according to a Stanford-SLAC study – published in Nature Energy and discussed in a Stanford Report article.

The batteries of electric vehicles subject to the normal use of real-world drivers – like heavy traffic, long highway trips, short city trips, and mostly being parked – could last about a third longer than researchers have generally forecast, according to scientists working in the SLAC-Stanford Battery Center, a joint center between Stanford University’s Precourt Institute for Energy and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

This suggests that the owner of a typical EV may not need to replace the expensive battery pack or buy a new car for several additional years.

Almost always, battery scientists and engineers have tested the cycle lives of new battery designs in laboratories using a constant rate of discharge followed by recharging. They repeat this cycle rapidly many times to learn quickly if a new design is good or not for life expectancy, among other qualities. The study finds that this is not a good way to predict the life expectancy of EV batteries, especially for people who own EVs for everyday commuting.

Submission + - Car prices could jump $6,000 as Trump's 25% import tariff kicks in (techspot.com)

Submitted by jjslash
jjslash writes: President Trump has introduced a new 25% tariff on imported cars and auto parts, sparking debate about its effects on the U.S. auto industry. TechSpot reports:

While supporters argue that the policy will spur growth, attract investment, and create jobs domestically, critics warn that it will lead to significantly higher prices for shoppers.

The new tariff on imported cars will take effect on April 2, while the import duty on car parts will go into effect on May 3. The components subject to the new policy include engines and engine parts, transmissions and powertrain components, and electrical systems.

Under the plan, imported vehicles will be taxed only on their non-US content.

Submission + - Google agrees to pay $28m in racial bias lawsuit (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by AmiMoJo
AmiMoJo writes: Google has agreed to pay $28m (£21.5m) to settle a lawsuit that claimed white and Asian employees were given better pay and career opportunities than workers from other ethnic backgrounds, a law firm representing claimants says.

The technology giant confirmed it had "reached a resolution" but rejected the allegations made against it.

The case filed in 2021 by former Google employee, Ana Cantu, said workers from Hispanic, Latino, Native American and other backgrounds started on lower salaries and job levels than their white and Asian counterparts.

The settlement has been given preliminary approval by Judge Charles Adams of the Santa Clara County Superior Court in California.

The case brought by Ms Cantu against Google relied on a leaked internal document, which allegedly showed that employees from some ethnic backgrounds reported lower compensation for similar work.

The practice of basing starting pay and job level on prior salaries reinforced historical race and ethnicity-based disparities, according to Ms Cantu's lawyers.

The class action lawsuit was filed for at least 6,632 people who were employed by Google between 15 February 2018 and 31 December 2024, according to Reuters news agency.

Submission + - New organ discovered in the human body says paper. (thelancet.com) 1

Submitted by sandbagger
sandbagger writes: Researchers have officially classified the mesentery—a structure in the digestive system—as a distinct human organ.

Previously thought to be a fragmented and insignificant part of the abdominal cavity, new research reveals that the mesentery is actually a continuous structure that plays a crucial role in holding the intestines in place. It is called the mesentery.

Submission + - 'Tunnel Girl' granted permit to continue digging bunker under her Virginia home (foxnews.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: The green light has been granted to a woman who went viral for digging a massive tunnel under her home.

"Kala," the supposed name of the homeowner and creator of the TikTok account @engineer.everything, garnered 7.7 million views as she documented herself digging a bunker under her home in Herndon, Virginia.

Known on social media as "Tunnel Girl," Kala posted a video on Monday announcing that her plans had been approved after paying a $2,000 fee. Her project had been halted in 2024 due to potential building violations.

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