When mechanical engineers accustomed to building one-of-a-kind spacecraft turn that focus to pumpkins, the results can be hauntingly good. The annual Halloween pumpkin-carving contest at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California may be all in good fun, but to the 200 or so participants, it’s also serious business. Power tools are involved.
Dioramas can incorporate…
In Alaska’s largest river delta, tundra that has been scorched by wildfire is emitting more methane than the rest of the landscape long after the flames died, scientists have found. The potent greenhouse gas can originate from decomposing carbon stored in permafrost for…
Bungie becomes the latest studio to lay off employees
November 2, 2023
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One of 2023’s most depressing trends is major games studios laying off employees in an increasingly crowded job market. Now Bungie…
AI pioneers Hinton, Ng, LeCun, Bengio amp up x-risk debate
November 2, 2023
In a series of online articles, blog posts and posts on X/LinkedIn over the past few days, AI pioneers (sometimes called “godfathers” of AI) Geoffrey Hinton, Andrew Ng, Yann LeCun and Yoshua Bengio have amped up their debate over existential risks of AI by commenting publicly on each other’s posts. The debate clearly places Hinton and Bengio on the side that is highly concerned about AI’s…
VICTORIA, British Columbia — Boeing had an unfair advantage over other companies in Canada’s competition for new surveillance aircraft, executives at two major firms alleged.
Éric Martel, president of Bombardier, and Joel Houde, vice president of General Dynamics…
US Navy submarine branch focuses on developing Project Overmatch
November 2, 2023
WASHINGTON — A reorganization of the Navy’s undersea warfare community two years ago has sharpened its focus on developing more modern warfighting tools, including a network of communications systems that will support joint all-domain operations, a top leader said.
The…
US Navy weapons buyer talks ship production, F-35 upgrade delays
November 2, 2023
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy and the Defense Department used the fiscal 2024 budget request to double down on asymmetric advantages over rivals like Russia and China.
For the Navy, that took the form of missiles, submarines and unmanned systems.
More recently, however, Bill LaPlante, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, has said developing and prototyping these high-end…
WASHINGTON — Epirus has completed initial government acceptance testing of its high-power microwave prototype meant to counter drone swarms, the company said in a Nov. 1 statement.
The prototype system delivered to the U.S. Army is part of the service’s effort to develop…
Senate lawmakers in the next few days will move ahead with confirmation votes on key leadership spots for the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, and Democratic leaders are eyeing ways soon after to force through hundreds of other senior officer promotions which have been held…
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy is beginning to integrate its industrial base with those of Australia and the United Kingdom, despite Congress not yet passing several measures to enable the trilateral submarine-building arrangement AUKUS.
AUKUS will bring about the sale of American submarines to Australia and the development of a new AUKUS-class design, but U.S. Navy Under Secretary Erik Raven…
