wired.com
The plan for the first small-scale US nuclear reactor was exciting, ambitious, and unusual from the get-go. In 2015, a group of city- and county-run utilities across the Mountain West region announced that they were betting on a new frontier of nuclear technology: a mini version of a conventional plant called a “small modular reactor” (SMR).
Advocates said the design, just 9 feet in diameter and 65 feet tall, was poised to resurrect the US nuclear industry, which has delivered only two completed…
3 months ago
wired.com
The plan for the first small-scale US nuclear reactor was exciting, ambitious, and unusual from the get-go. In 2015, a group of city- and county-run utilities across the Mountain West region announced that they were betting on a new frontier of nuclear technology: a mini version of a conventional plant called a “small modular reactor” (SMR).
Advocates said the design, just 9 feet in diameter and 65 feet tall, was poised to resurrect the US nuclear industry, which has delivered only two completed…
2 months ago
wired.com
The pranksters were first branded as “Luddites” by online critics. Ignorant vandals, they meant. Tantruming technophobes who were attacking the very notion of progress. Somehow the activists had missed the memo about how electric robotaxis would cut carbon emissions and vastly improve road safety.
The rebels embraced the label. In a response posted on social media, they offered up a quick history lesson, explaining that the original Luddites, the cottage workers of the early 19th century who too…
3 months ago
wired.com
The pranksters were first branded as “Luddites” by online critics. Ignorant vandals, they meant. Tantruming technophobes who were attacking the very notion of progress. Somehow the activists had missed the memo about how electric robotaxis would cut carbon emissions and vastly improve road safety.
The rebels embraced the label. In a response posted on social media, they offered up a quick history lesson, explaining that the original Luddites, the cottage workers of the early 19th century who too…
3 months ago
wired.com
For those in charge of converting solar radiation into electricity, that remaining fraction provides little comfort. From California to Texas, grid operator estimates indicate that more than a third of the country’s solar capacity—enough to power about 20 million homes—will be unavailable at some point during the three-hour celestial event tomorrow, presenting a test for electric grids.
The challenge is twofold. Solar power is now far more dominant than it was in 2017, the last time a solar ecli…
3 months ago
wired.com
For those in charge of converting solar radiation into electricity, that remaining fraction provides little comfort. From California to Texas, grid operator estimates indicate that more than a third of the country’s solar capacity—enough to power about 20 million homes—will be unavailable at some point during the three-hour celestial event tomorrow, presenting a test for electric grids.
The challenge is twofold. Solar power is now far more dominant than it was in 2017, the last time a solar ecli…
3 months ago
wired.com
Typically, weather forecasters would rely on models of atmospheric physics to make that call. This time, they had another tool: a new generation of AI-based weather models developed by chipmaker Nvidia, Chinese tech giant Huawei, and Google’s AI unit DeepMind. For Lee, the three tech-company models predicted a path that would strike somewhere between Rhode Island and Nova Scotia—forecasts that generally agreed with the official, physics-based outlook. Land-ho, somewhere. The devil, of course, wa…
4 months ago
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Typically, weather forecasters would rely on models of atmospheric physics to make that call. This time, they had another tool: a new generation of AI-based weather models developed by chipmaker Nvidia, Chinese tech giant Huawei, and Google’s AI unit DeepMind. For Lee, the three tech-company models predicted a path that would strike somewhere between Rhode Island and Nova Scotia—forecasts that generally agreed with the official, physics-based outlook. Land-ho, somewhere. The devil, of course, wa…
4 months ago
wired.com
Apple claims its new Apple Watch is carbon neutral and has done impressive work to decarbonize its supply chain, but making new stuff always leaves a mark on the climate.
4 months ago
wired.com
Tired of relying on Big Tech to enable collaboration, peer-to-peer enthusiasts are creating a new model that cuts out the middleman. (That’s you, Google.)
6 months ago
wired.com
Experts doubt claims that LK-99 is a room-temperature superconductor set to open up a future of levitating trains and quantum tech. Andrew McCalip wants to see for himself.
6 months ago
