Latest Tech News

Stay updated with the latest in technology, AI, cybersecurity, and more

Filtered by: plant Clear Filter

Plagued by Parts Shortage and EV Demand Uncertainty, GM Prepares for Layoffs

Automotive giant General Motors is preparing for layoffs at its assembly plant in Wentzville, Missouri. Although the layoffs will be temporary, the majority of the workers at the plant will be affected, according to a letter sent to employees by the plant’s executive director and the local UAW representative. GM’s Wentzville plant builds the company’s Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon mid-size trucks, as well as the Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana full-size vans. The latter two are some of GM

Topics: electric ev gm plant tax

Parts shortage is the latest problem to hit General Motors production

General Motors will temporarily lay off workers at its Wentzville assembly plant in Missouri. According to a letter sent to employees by the head of the plant and the head of the local union, a shortage of parts is the culprit, and as a result the factory will see "a temporary layoff from September 29-October 19." The plant is about 45 minutes west of St Louis and employs more than 4,000 people to assemble midsize pickup trucks for Chevrolet and GMC, as well as full-size vans. Not every employe

Plant Care Tips for the Winter, According to Experts (2025)

Indoor plant care is always tricky. While it's all fine and dandy to take care of them when the summer sun is shining, keeping your plants alive in winter can feel like a whole ’nother story. Being a houseplant enthusiast is akin to having several silent children, all with finicky needs and limited ways of communicating them. If your green thumb is feeling a little yellow or brown these days, fear not! I interviewed several experts to figure out exactly how to keep your plants happy during the c

New pathway engineered into plants lets them suck up more CO₂

Lots of people are excited about the idea of using plants to help us draw down some of the excess carbon dioxide we've been pumping into the atmosphere. It would be nice to think that we could reforest our way out of the mess we're creating, but recent studies have indicated there's simply not enough productive land for this to work out. One alternative might be to get plants to take up carbon dioxide more efficiently. Unfortunately, the enzyme that incorporates carbon dioxide into photosynthes

An engineering history of the Manhattan Project

The Manhattan Project, the US program to build an atomic bomb during WWII, is one of the most famous and widely known major government projects: a survey in 1999 ranked the dropping of the atomic bomb as the top news story of the 20th century. Virtually everyone knows that the project built the bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And most of us probably know that the bomb was built by some of the world’s best physicists, working under Robert Oppenheimer at Los Alamos in New Mexico

An Engineering History of the Manhattan Project

The Manhattan Project, the US program to build an atomic bomb during WWII, is one of the most famous and widely known major government projects: a survey in 1999 ranked the dropping of the atomic bomb as the top news story of the 20th century. Virtually everyone knows that the project built the bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And most of us probably know that the bomb was built by some of the world’s best physicists, working under Robert Oppenheimer at Los Alamos in New Mexico

Chinese Scientists Create Bright, Multi-Colored Glowing Plants

Never to be outshone — literally, in this case — Chinese scientists have one-upped American researchers and their bioluminescent petunias with what they're calling world's first multi-colored glowing plants. As the journal Nature reports, this glow-in-the-dark succulent hails from the South China Agricultural University (SCAU) in Guangzhou, where materials researchers have developed a technology that recharges the plants via sunlight and makes them as bright as a night-light and with many of th

Mangrove Restoration Frustration (2021)

If any single event was a watershed for conservation of the world's mangrove forests, it was the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004. The day after Christmas that year, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake thundered along a fault line on the ocean floor with a force that sent waves — some a hundred feet high — surging toward the densely populated coasts encircling the Indian Ocean. The disaster took more than 225,000 lives. In the aftermath of the tsunami, some scientists reported that settlements behind swampy

Glow-in-the-dark houseplants shine in rainbow of colours

University students might soon have something other than black-light posters to brighten their dorm rooms. Researchers have created glow-in-the-dark plants by injecting succulents with materials similar to those that make the posters light up. The fleshy plants shine as brightly as a night light, and can be made to do so in a wide variety of colours — a first for glowing houseplants, according to the team. Glow way! Bioluminescent houseplant hits US market for first time The researchers, led b

Pig lung transplanted into a human

A genetically modified pig lung transplanted into a brain-dead human patient functioned for nine days in a new achievement that reveals both the promise and significant challenges of xenotransplantation. Over the course of the experiment, the patient showed increasing signs of organ rejection before scientists at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University in China terminated the experiment, allowing the recipient to pass away. It's the first time a pig lung has been transpla

Pig Lung Transplanted into a Human in Major Scientific First: ScienceAlert

A genetically modified pig lung transplanted into a brain-dead human patient functioned for nine days in a new achievement that reveals both the promise and significant challenges of xenotransplantation. Over the course of the experiment, the patient showed increasing signs of organ rejection before scientists at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University in China terminated the experiment, allowing the recipient to pass away. It's the first time a pig lung has been transpla

Glow-in-the-Dark Succulents Could Be the Future of Ambient Lighting

Glowing plants are pleasant to look at. Turns out, a simple method for loading glow-in-the-dark particles onto succulent leaves can make these plants prettier—and more useful. In a Matter paper published today, researchers showcase glow-in-the-dark succulents—popular plant buddies—that recharge using sunlight. For years, scientists and engineers have dreamed of harnessing glowing greenery for sustainable lighting, but most attempts, typically through genetic engineering, have achieved limited s

Japanese Power Plant Turns Saltwater Into Electricity—and It’s a Glimpse Into the Future

Scientists believe saltwater could become a reliable source of renewable energy through a process known as osmosis. Japan has now taken a major step in that direction. Earlier this month, Japan officially launched its first osmotic power plant in Fukuoka, a large city to the west of Tokyo. That makes Japan the second country in the world to bet on osmotic power, after Denmark. Fukuoka’s plant is expected to generate about 880,000 kilowatt hours of electricity each year, enough to supply approxi

Japan has opened its first osmotic power plant

Japan has opened its first osmotic power plant, in the south-western city of Fukuoka. Only the second power plant of its type in the world, it is expected to generate about 880,000 kilowatt hours of electricity each year – enough to help power a desalination plant that supplies fresh water to the city and neighbouring areas. That’s the equivalent of powering about 220 Japanese households, according to Dr Ali Altaee from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), who specialises in the developm

In a First, a Human Breathed Using an Implanted Pig Lung

The tantalizing potential of pig-to-human transplantation, or xenotransplantation, has reached another frontier. For the first time ever, scientists have transplanted a genetically edited pig lung into a living human body. Researchers in China reported the medical feat in a study published Monday in Nature Medicine. The gene-edited left lung survived for nine days inside a person declared to be brain dead. More work has to be done to ensure the long-term viability of these organs, the researche

HORI's Piranha Plant camera for Nintendo Switch 2 is 33 percent off right now

Even though the Switch 2 basically just came out, we're already starting to see discounts on some of its accessories. One of the more charming peripherals, the HORI Piranha Plant camera, is on sale right now for only $40. That's $20 off and a record-low price. It's a good deal for anyone who wants to take advantage of the Switch 2's camera functionality in games like Mario Kart World and that recently-released campfire sim. This was designed specifically for Nintendo's new console, so it's a pl

You can't grow cool-climate plants in hot climates

Since moving to Deep South Texas 4 years ago I've come to realize that many plants I used to love growing in the cool mild maritime climate of the SF bay area are impossible to grow where I live. This is not just because of the high daytime heat. It's not as simple as that. Specifically, it is the high heat during the night (and those warm nights are a direct result of the humidity) that causes cool-climate and cool-season plants to eventually die here. That's a bummer for somebody who loves pla

Scientists are building cyborg jellyfish to explore ocean depths

Climate change is warming ocean waters, making the environment more acidic thanks to the absorption of carbon monoxide from the atmosphere. This endangers various marine species, and monitoring those changes is vitally important. But it can be challenging to reach the deepest waters without the aid of very expensive equipment. Moon jellyfish can swim to those depths, however, making them a potential ally in the quest to study the deep ocean. That's why researchers at the University of Colorado

Pick up the HORI Piranha Plant camera for Switch 2 while it's on sale for $40

The HORI Piranha Plant camera for the Nintendo Switch 2 is on sale for just $40, which is a discount of $20 and a record-low price. This is a great deal for those who own a Switch 2 and want to take advantage of the camera functionality in games like Mario Kart World and that recently-released campfire sim. This was designed specifically for Nintendo's new console, so it's a plug-and-play affair. It's actually cheaper than the official Switch 2 camera with this sale and it looks a whole lot coo

America’s fragile drug supply chain is extremely vulnerable to climate change

When Hurricane Helene ravaged western North Carolina in September 2024, one of its many victims was a manufacturing plant that made intravenous fluids. The sterile IV solutions produced in the plant are essential supplies for hospitals and other medical facilities, which use them in various treatments, from rehydration to drug delivery and kidney dialysis. And the plant damaged by Helene—Baxter International's North Cove manufacturing facility in Marion—didn't just make some of the US supply; it

Scientists Just Caught Human Embryo Implantation on Camera

A team of researchers at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) in Spain has succeeded, for the first time, in recording in real time and in 3D the implantation of a human embryo. This achievement opens up the possibility of investigating in greater depth the causes of infertility and discovering new assisted reproduction treatments. Failure of embryo implantation in the uterus is one of the major barriers to pregnancy, and is associated with about 60 percent of miscarriages. This

Why the former editor of Polygon is making a podcast for old gamers

is a news editor covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme. In a recent episode of Post Games, host Chris Plante explores how video games can help players understand death. He’s interviewing Kaitlin Tremblay, who is working on Ambrosia Sky, a game about death. “What is it about games that is so useful for exploring the topic?” Plante asks. “I think there’s something really lovely about the way in which games invite players in,” Tremb

Notorious Boar’s Head Plant to Reopen a Year After Listeria Outbreak That Killed 10

Boar’s Head plans to reopen a meat packaging plant in Jarratt, Virginia, that was the source of a listeria outbreak in 2024 that sickened dozens of people and killed 10. The company had closed the plant indefinitely after liverwurst packaged there had been linked to the deaths. A shocking report from the New York Times shortly after the Boar’s Head recall explained that the plant had evidence of meat that was exposed to wet ceilings, extensive rust, and the presence of green mold. But last mont

In a First, Scientists Capture Human Embryo Implantation in Real Time

A team of scientists has just gotten a closer peek into one of the earliest and most fundamental steps of creating a human life. Research out today highlights how they captured—for the first time—footage of human embryo implantation right as it’s happening. Researchers at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), in collaboration with Dexeus University Hospital, detailed their work in a study published Friday in Science Advances. Among other things, the footage shows that human embr

HORI's Piranha Plant camera for Switch 2 drops to $40

The HORI Piranha Plant camera for the Nintendo Switch 2 is on sale for just $40, which is a discount of $20 and a record-low price. This is a great deal for those who own a Switch 2 and want to take advantage of the camera functionality in games like Mario Kart World and that recently-released campfire sim. This was designed specifically for Nintendo's new console, so it's a plug-and-play affair. It's actually cheaper than the official Switch 2 camera with this sale and it looks a whole lot coo

The HORI Piranha Plant camera for Nintendo Switch 2 is on sale for 33 percent off

Even though the Switch 2 basically just came out, we're already starting to see discounts on some of its accessories. One of the more charming peripherals, the HORI Piranha Plant camera, is on sale right now for only $40. That's $20 off and a record-low price. It's a good deal for anyone who wants to take advantage of the Switch 2's camera functionality in games like Mario Kart World and that recently-released campfire sim. This was designed specifically for Nintendo's new console, so it's a pl

New 3D Laser Scanner Developed for Harvesting Robots

Robotics engineers at the University of Würzburg have developed a novel 3D laser scanner system for precise plant analysis in the field for the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy in Potsdam. Whether strawberries, asparagus or apples: when it comes to harvesting, skilled workers are often in short supply. Many researchers are therefore working on harvesting robots that could provide welcome support to agricultural businesses in the future. ‘There are already a few pro

Jellyfish Overpower Nuclear Power Plant in Show of Force From Mother Nature

Jellyfish may be spineless, but they showed the backbone of a dedicated environmentalist over the weekend. A swarm of the gelatinous sea dwellers overwhelmed a nuclear power plant in northern France, forcing its shutdown on Sunday. The incident started when a “massive and unpredictable” swarm of jellyfish started to overwhelm the filter drums, which remove debris from cooling water systems, at the Gravelines nuclear power plant that sits on the coast of the North Sea. The sheer volume of jellyf

The HORI Piranha Plant camera for Switch 2 is 33 percent off right now

Even though the Switch 2 basically just came out, we're already starting to see discounts on some of its accessories. One of the more charming peripherals, the HORI Piranha Plant camera, is on sale right now for only $40. That's $20 off and a record-low price. It's a good deal for anyone who wants to take advantage of the Switch 2's camera functionality in games like Mario Kart World and that recently-released campfire sim. This was designed specifically for Nintendo's new console, so it's a pl

The HORI Piranha Plant camera for Switch 2 is on sale for $40

The HORI Piranha Plant camera for the Nintendo Switch 2 is on sale for just $40, which is a discount of $20 and a record-low price. This is a great deal for those who own a Switch 2 and want to take advantage of the camera functionality in games like Mario Kart World and that recently-released campfire sim. This was designed specifically for Nintendo's new console, so it's a plug-and-play affair. It's actually cheaper than the official Switch 2 camera with this sale and it looks a whole lot coo