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A new weather prediction model from Google combines AI with traditional physics

While new machine-learning techniques that predict weather by learning from years of past data are extremely fast and efficient, they can struggle with long-term predictions. General circulation models, on the other hand,... Read more »

The Download: technological complexity, and climate change Catan

The philosopher Karl Popper once argued that there are two kinds of problems in the world: clock problems and cloud problems. As the metaphor suggests, clock problems obey a certain logic. The... Read more »

How to fix a Windows PC affected by the global outage

George Kurtz, CEO of Crowdstrike, said that the company was actively working with customers affected by the defect, found in a single content update for Windows machines. “This is not a security... Read more »

The Download: Windows’ CrowdStrike outage, and wildfire-tracking balloons

What’s happening? Windows PCs have crashed around the world, bringing airlines, major banks, TV broadcasters, healthcare providers and other businesses to a standstill. Airlines including United Airlines, Delta, and American Airlines have... Read more »

Why we need safeguards against genetic discrimination

“Genetic discrimination involves an individual or a group being negatively treated, unfairly profiled or harmed, relative to the rest of the population, on the basis of actual or presumed genetic characteristics.“ It... Read more »

Balloons will surf wind currents to track wildfires

The balloons can hover over a fire for about 18 hours, using the whims of the atmosphere to stay in place. They fly near the top of the troposphere and the bottom... Read more »

Building supply chain resilience with AI

The Canadian fertilizer company Nutrien, for example, operates two dozen manufacturing and processing facilities spread across the globe and nearly 2,000 retail stores in the Americas and Australia. To collect underutilized data... Read more »

The Download: Falcon 9’s future, and Big Tech’s climate goals

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is one of the world’s safest, most productive rockets. But a rare engine malfunction on July 11 prompted the US Federal Aviation Administration to initiate an investigation and ground... Read more »

Companies need to stop taking the easy way out on climate goals

Tech giants Amazon and Google both recently released news about their efforts to clean up their climate impact. Both were a mixed bag, but one bit of news in particular made me... Read more »

What’s next for SpaceX’s Falcon 9

During a SpaceX livestream, ice could be seen accumulating on the Falcon 9’s engine following its launch from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base en route to releasing 20 Starlink satellites. According to... Read more »