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Submission + - China Expands Rare Earth Export Controls to Semiconductor, Block TechInsight (reuters.com)

Submitted by hackingbear
hackingbear writes: Following U.S. lawmakers' call on Tuesday for broader bans on the export of chipmaking equipment to China, China dramatically expanded its rare earths export controls on Thursday, adding five new elements, dozens of pieces of refining technology, and extra scrutiny for semiconductor users as Beijing tightens control over the sector ahead of talks between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. The new rules expands controls Beijing announced in April that caused shortages around the world, before a series of deals with Europe and the U.S. eased the supply crunch. China produces over 90% of the world's processed rare earths and rare earth magnets. The 17 rare earth elements are vital materials in products ranging from electric vehicles to aircraft engines and military radars. Foreign companies producing some of the rare earths and related magnets on the list will now also need a Chinese export license if the final product contains or is made with Chinese equipment or material, even if the transaction includes no Chinese companies, mimicking rules the U.S. has implemented to restrict other countries' exports of semiconductor-related products to China. Developing mining and processing capabilities requires a long-term effort, meaning the United States will be on the back foot for the foreseeable future. The Commerce Ministry also added to its "unreliable entity list" 14 foreign organizations, which are mostly based in the United States, restricting their ability to carry out commercial activities within the world's second-largest economy for carrying out military and technological cooperation with Taiwan, or "made malicious remarks about China, and assisted foreign governments in suppressing Chinese companies", it said in a separate statement, referring to TechInsights, a prominent Canadian tech research firm, and nine of its subsidiaries including Strategy Analytics which were among those blacklisted.

Submission + - Scientists seek to turbocharge a natural process that cools the Earth (msn.com)

Submitted by fjo3
fjo3 writes: Across vast stretches of farmland in southern Brazil, researchers at a carbon removal company are attempting to accelerate a natural process that normally unfolds over thousands or millions of years.

The company, Terradot, is spreading tons of volcanic rock crushed into a fine dust over land where soybeans, sugar cane and other crops are grown. As rain percolates through the soil, chemical reactions pull carbon from the air and convert it into bicarbonate ions that eventually wash into the ocean, where the carbon remains stored.

The technique, known as “enhanced rock weathering,” is emerging as a promising approach to lock away carbon on a massive scale. Some researchers estimate the method has the potential to sequester billions of tons of carbon, helping slow global climate trends. Other major projects are underway across the globe and have collectively raised over a quarter-billion dollars.

Submission + - PC sales explode in Q3 as Windows 11 deadlines force millions to upgrade (nerds.xyz)

Submitted by BrianFagioli
BrianFagioli writes: IDC says global PC shipments jumped 9.4 percent in Q3 2025, reaching nearly 76 million units. Asia and Japan led the growth thanks to school projects and corporate refreshes tied to Windows 10â(TM)s end of support. North America was the weak link, with tariffs and economic unease keeping buyers on the sidelines even as aging fleets strain under Windows 11 pressure.

Lenovo kept its top spot with 25.5 percent market share, followed by HP at 19.8 and Dell at 13.3. Apple and ASUS both posted double-digit growth. IDCâ(TM)s takeaway is clear: the PC market is not surging on flashy new features, it is being pulled forward by deadlines, old batteries, and the reality that five-year-old laptops do not cut it anymore.

Submission + - Internet Archive Celebrating 1 Trillion Web Pages Archived (archive.org)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: This October, the Internet Archive will celebrate an extraordinary milestone: 1 trillion web pages preserved and available for access via the Wayback Machine.

Since 1996, the Internet Archive has worked with libraries and partners around the world to build a shared digital library of humanity’s online history: capturing websites large and small—from breaking news to forgotten personal pages—so they remain accessible for future generations.

Submission + - Fossil fuel burning poses threat to health of 1.6bn people (theguardian.com)

Submitted by mspohr
mspohr writes: A new interactive map from Climate Trace, a coalition of academics and analysts that tracks pollution and greenhouse gases, shows that PM2.5 and other toxins are being poured into the air near the homes of about 1.6 billion people. Of these, about 900 million are in the path of “super-emitting” industrial facilities – including power plants, refineries, ports and mines – that deliver outsize doses of toxic air.
Great map
https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fclimatetrace.org%2F

Submission + - So many birds are migrating that they're appearing on weather radar (washingtonpost.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Between 2010 and 2013, the radars were upgraded with technology that allows both horizontal and vertical pulses of energy to be emitted. By comparing the returned signals, meteorologists can determine the shape of whatever is in the sky. Raindrops are a bit wider than they are tall, and shaped like hamburger buns; snowflakes are — obviously — flaky; but lofted tornado debris is spiked or jagged.
Birds, meanwhile, appear as somewhat spiked objects, as do insects. But insects appear a bit more round and uniform on radar, and are also lightweight enough to become caught up in the wind. Birds travel higher than most bugs, and also can fly against or perpendicular to the wind. After all, they have places to go — southward. Meteorologists can also determine their direction of motion through their analyses.

Submission + - How USB-C Ended the Great Connector Wars (itbrew.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: It's easy to forget the dark ages of peripheral connectivity. A twisted nest of proprietary connectors was the norm. Then, in 2014, a hero emerged: USB-C. It promised a reversible connector, high-speed data transfer, and enough power to charge a laptop. It was a revolution. This article from IT Brew breaks down the three waves of USB-C adoption, from its humble beginnings in the PC industry to its EU-mandated takeover of the mobile world. It's how a single connector brought order to the chaos and became the undisputed king of the hardware industry.

Comment Re:The domination of the personal device (Score 2) 81

by eln (#65636588) Attached to: Chrome Increases Its Overwhelming Market Share, Now Over 70%
That just means Google is now operating in exactly the same manner that Microsoft used to be when they had dominance over consumer device operating systems. Google now has dominance in the mobile market with Android, and is using that to shove Chrome down people's throats. Personally, the first thing I do with any new phone is download Firefox, just like I did (and still do) with new computers. As the statistics show, though, the vast majority of people don't bother to do that so whatever is the default is what they use. The right and fair thing to do would be to stop them from abusing their monopoly power by offering a choice of browsers at time of install, and not favor their own browser in any way. That would have been the thing to force MS to do as well back when they were being sued for abuse of monopoly power after taking down Netscape with the same tactic. Unfortunately, it didn't happen then and it isn't happening now either. So, Google will continue to dominate the market unless and until some other highly disruptive technology comes along to unseat the current smartphone market and gives another player a chance to enter and eventually dominate the market in a similar fashion.

Submission + - 3 decades of satellite data confirm predictions of early sea level rise models (wiley.com)

Submitted by Mr. Dollar Ton
Mr. Dollar Ton writes: Three decades of satellite-based measurements of global sea-level change enable a comparison of models and reality and show that early IPCC climate projections were remarkably accurate. Predictions of glacier mass loss and thermal expansion of seawater were comparatively successful, but the ice-sheet contributions were underestimated. The findings provide confidence in model-based climate projections.

Key findings:

* IPCC projections in the mid-1990s of global sea-level change over the next 30 years were remarkably robust

* The largest disparities between projections and observations were due to underestimated dynamic mass loss of ice sheets

* Comparison of past projections with subsequent observations gives confidence in future climate projections

Submission + - Recreating a Rare Mutation Could Grant Almost Universal Virus Immunity For Days (sciencealert.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: The mutation, a deficiency in interferon-stimulated gene 15 (ISG15), causes a mild yet persistent inflammation across the body. Examining patients' immune cells revealed they'd had the usual run of encounters with flu, measles, chickenpox, and mumps, yet they'd never reported feeling particularly ill as a result.

Further investigation revealed their body's virus-fighting proteins were constantly on a low level alert, never really put away for later like in most people.

Submission + - New Zealand Air Traffic Control failure likely caused by data transfer issue

Submitted by twosat
twosat writes: The air traffic control failure that disrupted transtasman flights at the weekend was caused by an issue with the cross-system transfer of flight information data, says Airways New Zealand’s boss. https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nzherald.co.nz%2Fnz%2F...

New Zealand’s oceanic air traffic control system was disrupted by a technical fault in Airways’ main Operational Control System (OCS) platform on Saturday night.

The fault closed oceanic airspace, forcing five Australia-bound flights to circle off New Zealand’s coast, and delaying planes in both countries.

Submission + - By learning to harness light like nature, we're launching a new era of green che (phys.org)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: In the Polyzos research group at the School of Chemistry, we have developed a new class of photocatalysts that, like plants, can absorb energy from multiple photons.

This breakthrough allows us to harness light energy more effectively, driving challenging and energy-demanding chemical reactions.

Submission + - In Barcelona, certain buses run on biomethane produced from human waste (lemonde.fr)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Odorless, quiet, sustainable. On the last day of July, passengers boarded Barcelona's V3 bus line with no idea where its fuel came from. Written in large letters on the bus façade, just below its name "Nimbus," a sign clearly stated: "This bus runs on biomethane produced from eco-factory sludge." Still, the explanation was likely too vague for most to grasp its full meaning. The moist matter from wastewater treated at the Baix Llobregat treatment plant was used to produce the biomethane. In other words: the human waste of more than 1.5 million residents of the Catalan city.

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