Social Media Shaming Your College

Factory contamination ruins “at least” 7 billion gigabytes of flash memory

Enlarge / Western Digital’s recent WD Black SN770 SSD. (credit: Western Digital) Solid-state storage devices have so far been spared from the scarcity and high prices that the chip shortage has wrought upon graphics cards, cars , Raspberry Pi boards , and innumerable other products. But that may change soon, due in part to a […]

Texas gov knew of natural gas shortages days before blackout, blamed wind anyway

Enlarge / Icicles hang off the State Highway 195 sign on February 18, 2021, in Killeen, Texas. A winter storm brought historic cold weather and power outages to Texas as storms swept across 26 states with a mix of freezing temperatures and precipitation. (credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s office knew of looming […]

All’s not lost for the vaquita—even though its gene pool is shallow

Enlarge / The vaquita’s population is small, but it may have purged most of its harmful mutations in the past. (credit: David Schneider) With only around 10 individuals left in the world, a tiny porpoise called the vaquita is facing extinction. Somewhat surprisingly, despite the relative shallowness of its gene pool, inbreeding isn’t likely to […]