A Virginia Tech graduate student, Hugh Grennan, demonstrated a printable composite made by mixing eutectic gallium-indium liquid metal into uncured PDMS silicone, shown on the 3D Printing Nerd YouTube channel. The mixture forms tiny liquid-metal droplets encased in silicone that stay conductive even after being cut, and when printed on a syringe-fed 3D printer, the droplets can be stretched into elongated shapes that channel heat in a chosen direction.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-09-28
A survey of residents in Northern Virginia, home to the world's largest concentration of data centers, found broad support for measures that would make data center development more transparent and accountable to the public. However, support was weaker for rules addressing more complicated aspects of data center operations, such as those researchers describe as complex regulatory issues.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-09-28
A geothermal heat map compares subsurface heat flow across the United States, measured in milliwatts per square meter, against known locations of hot springs. The map shows the national average heat flow at roughly 65 milliwatts per square meter, with much of the western US running well above that level while the eastern US remains largely cooler.
soakingsprings.com
· 2026-09-23
China dominates global processing of rare earth elements, materials essential to consumer electronics and US military hardware including F-35 jets and Virginia-class submarines. In 2025 China issued export controls on these materials, then agreed to suspend enforcement until at least November 10, 2026, according to the report.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-09-23
Teatre Raval in Barcelona found its Instagram and Facebook ads for a stage adaptation of Virginia Woolf's 'A Room of One's Own' rejected by Meta's automated moderation. Meta told the theatre that its system automatically flags any mention of civil rights, feminism or social reform as a restricted 'social topic,' and suggested removing such keywords to get the ads approved. The company did not clarify whether Woolf's name, the word 'feminism,' or both triggered the block.
futurism.com
· 2026-09-21
Teatre Raval in Barcelona had its Instagram and Facebook ads for a stage adaptation of Virginia Woolf's essay rejected by Meta, which classified the promotion under 'social topics' due to references to feminism and civil rights. Meta suggested the theatre strip out certain keywords to avoid the automatic filter, but the venue refused and publicly protested the restriction. The production, a one-woman show performed by Clara Sanchis, is based on Woolf's 1928 lectures on women and education.
theguardian.com
· 2026-09-21
Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger issued Executive Order 22, barring executive branch officials from signing NDAs on data center projects, mandating faster noise regulations, and reviewing backup power operations. The order also launches an AI task force to study risks like job losses and privacy harms, alongside a new state framework aimed at ending automatic zoning approvals and rolling back subsidies for data center developers.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-18
A geophysicist at Virginia Tech analyzed satellite data and identified gradual acceleration in ice and rock movement in the weeks leading up to the August 26 glacial collapse in Nepal, which triggered a flash flood that killed more than 1,000 people. The subtle shifts, though slow-moving, revealed a detectable pattern preceding the catastrophic failure.
gizmodo.com
· 2026-09-02
A clean-energy development is being built on 500 acres of a West Virginia strip mine that was abandoned two decades ago, combining solar power generation with both lithium-ion and zinc battery storage systems. Google is supporting the project, which aims to extend the availability of renewable electricity further into nighttime hours than conventional battery setups typically allow.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-09-02
Geophysicist Manoochehr Shirzaei of Virginia Tech found satellite imagery from days before the 26 August flash flood near the Nepal–Tibet border showing that a glacier section and underlying rock were accelerating in the weeks leading up to the collapse. The disaster, which killed more than 1,000 people and left over 4,000 missing, may have started with a rockslide dragging the glacier down or a glacier failure destabilizing the rocks; the exact sequence remains unclear.
nature.com
· 2026-09-02
A team of astronomers, led by Sarah Burke-Spolaor at West Virginia University and Michelle Ntampaka at the Space Telescope Science Institute, posted an unreviewed white paper on arXiv outlining four archetypes for research groups to help them decide how to use AI tools like large language models. Rather than proposing a single universal policy, the framework maps each lab type against its research priorities using a radar-style diagram to suggest which AI applications, from code generation to writing assistance, best fit its values.
nature.com
· 2026-08-31
Aker's stock surged after the company disclosed that its affiliate Nscale secured a $45 billion contract to supply AI compute capacity from its Monarch data center site in West Virginia. The deal marks a major win for Nscale's push into large-scale AI infrastructure.
wsj.com
· 2026-08-27
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