US DOE to invest $15.5 billion in transition to EVs and jobs

You're reading The Vital Component, a breakdown of the week's engineering news delivered to your inbox. I’m Rizwan, an editor at IE. Let's dive in.

??This week, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a $15.5 billion package of funding and loans primarily focused on retooling existing factories for the transition to electric vehicles (EVs)—supporting good jobs and a just transition to EVs. Plus The US Army is considering arming a robot dog with its next-generation rifle to create a weapons support platform that can traverse various terrains.

Discover more about each story, and discover this week’s other science and engineering highlights, below.

??Also, Generative AI is on the rise and is here to stay for the long term. Here's how The paper "Generative AI: Its Risk to Your Enterprise’s Data and How to Tame Them " discusses the possible threats AI poses to enterprise data and ways to mitigate those risks.?

??? Check out Lexicon , Interesting Engineering's podcast that features guests from across the world of engineering, science, and tech.

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MUST KNOW

??The money will go toward automotive manufacturing conversion projects that provide employment to local communities as well as funding to expand domestic manufacturing of batteries for electric vehicles and the local grid. Priority will be given to companies that have an existing high-quality, high-wage hourly production workforce. Read More

??India’s first-ever solar mission, Aditya-L1, successfully lifted off from the Sathish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR in Sriharikota on September 2, 2023. The mission aims to study the Sun and its influence on the space environment around the Earth and other planets. Read More

??The US Army is considering arming a robot dog with its next-generation rifle to create a weapons support platform that can traverse various terrains. The robot, a Ghost Robotics-made Vision 60 Quadruped Unmanned Ground Vehicle (Q-UGV), is also fitted with a sophisticated suite of sensors for surveillance and other support roles for the Army. Read More

WEEK'S MOST IMPORTANT NEWS?

Innovation

• ??MIT's next-gen gravitational-wave detector will replace LIGO Construction of a sizable detector capable of detecting gravitational-wave signals from events like the merging of black holes and neutron stars is underway.
• ??Machine learning might help us finally unlock nuclear fusion What if we could replace a time-consuming analysis, an important prerequisite to judge the right mix of isotopes to use?
• ??How a 7-minute injection could revolutionize cancer therapy NHS England offers the world’s first cancer injection that cuts treatment time by 75 percent.

Space

• ??Russia’s Luna 25 dented the Moon’s surface at impact site In a race to accomplish a soft landing on the lunar south pole against India’s Chandrayaan-3 Moon mission, Russia’s spacecraft crash resulted in a crater.
• ??China reveals grand vision for space resource utilization Could you mine all the resources needed for space exploration from space itself? China reveals plans to achieve this goal by 2100.

Military and Transportation

• ??Here's how machine learning helps helicopters land on ships Texas A&M researchers are developing a novel solution for autonomous VTOL aircraft ship landing using reinforcement learning and optimal design.
• ??Study finds Cold War guilty for radioactive wild boars What do Chernobyl and the Cold War have to do with reduced consumption of wild boars and venison meat? How concerning is their overpopulation?
• ??US nukes returned to UK soil after 15 year hiatus The Federation of American Scientists has uncovered some interesting evidence that US nukes may be returning to the UK after a 15-year hiatus.
• ???US aims to block expedition to recover Titanic's radio Maritime law dictates that wreckage finders can salvage cargo. But the case of the Titanic is peculiar and the US government is trying to block the expedition.

JOB ALERT

The latest jobs as featured on:?jobs.interestingengineering.com

“This approval will not only allow us to deliver convenient and faster care for our patients but will enable our teams to treat more patients throughout the day,”

Dr Alexander Martin, a consultant oncologist at West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust

RECOMMENDATIONS

• ???NASA is integrating 45 miles of wiring into new telescope The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is designed to investigate dark energy, rogue alien worlds, and other cosmic phenomena.
• ??Innovative headband may detect signs of Alzheimer's in sleep The newly created technology measures brain activity while we sleep in order to detect early indicators of Alzheimer's.
• ??NASA awards startup $850,000 to develop space debris capture bag NASA awarded space logistics startup TransAstra a contract to develop an inflatable capture bag capable of transporting orbital debris and asteroids.?
• ??Here's how to stop Meta from using your data for AI training Meta has launched a new privacy setting that allows users to request the company not to use their data from public or licensed sources for training its generative AI models.