With the extent of official U.S. participation in the next UN climate panel report in doubt, a new group has formed to recruit U.S. authors.
Why it matters: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is the most authoritative scientific group studying climate change. It was set up to advise policymakers and the public on the latest climate science findings.
The National Weather Service is reducing weather balloon launches at six more locations in the U.S. and temporarily suspending them at two more places due to staffing shortages, the agency announced Thursday afternoon.
Why it matters: Weather balloons, typically launched twice per day at NWS local forecast offices, provide crucial data for weather forecasting.
Tesla is recalling substantially all units of the Cybertruck pickup over a defect that could cause a panel to fly off in traffic.
Why it matters: The Cybertruck — which has been dogged by quality issues, causing several previous recalls — has been trumpeted by Tesla CEO Elon Musk as a reflection of the company's engineering prowess.
Fears have grown among National Weather Service advocates that the Trump administration is seeking to privatize or significantly downsize it — moves they say would undo a careful division of labor among government, academia and the private sector.
Why it matters: Abalance has been struck over decades within the "weather enterprise" in which NOAA collects raw weather data from the Earth's deep oceans to space, disseminates forecasts through NWS and issues life-saving watches and warnings.
Chip maker Nvidia, tech players including Microsoft and big energy companies hope to better harness AI to improve power sector operations.
Why it matters: AI's energy thirst gets tons of headlines, but AI also has the potential to make grids more efficient, help integrate new tech, and lower costs.
