Trump administration cites national security in stalling 165 wind farms

Onshore wind development in the United States is being brought to a standstill. The Trump administration has brought US onshore wind development to a halt citing national security concerns, representing a major escalation in the president’s crusade against renewable energy. Approvals for about 165 onshore wind projects on private…

MIT’s virtual violin offers luthiers a new design tool

Computational model lets users tweak parameters to hear effect on the sound in early design process. Violin makers, aka luthiers, traditionally learn from hands-on experience how to craft parts and select materials to shape an instrument’s final sound. MIT engineers hope to streamline that painstaking process with their new…

Research roundup: 6 cool science stories we almost missed

Crushing soda cans for science, why dolphins swim so fast, how urine helps mushrooms communicate, and more It’s a regrettable reality that there is never enough time to cover all the interesting scientific stories we come across. So every month, we highlight a handful of the best stories that…

Ubuntu infrastructure has been down for more than a day

The outage has hampered communication concerning a critical vulnerability that gives root.  Servers operated by Ubuntu and its parent company Canonical were knocked offline on Thursday morning and have remained down ever since, a situation that’s preventing the OS provider from communicating normally following the botched disclosure of a…