There’s been a lot of buzz in the media in early 2025 about the likelihood of Medicaid cuts to significantly reduce federal spending on the program. With almost 72 million people covered by Medicaid, there is widespread concern about what sort of cuts are likely. This article examines what could be cut – and who … Read more
Eyes in the sky Weather satellites that monitor tropical storms from space provide continuous views of each storm’s track and intensity changes. The equipment on these satellites and software used to analyze it make increasingly accurate hurricane forecasts possible. Much of that equipment is developed by federally funded researchers. For example, the Cooperative Institutes in … Read more
Consider the PlayStation 2. Not all of the PS2 Slim’s streamlining came from chip improvements—it also shed a full-sized 3.5-inch hard drive bay and a little-used IEEE 1394 port, and initially required an external power brick. But shrinking and consolidating the console’s CPU, GPU, memory, and other components took the console from its original design … Read more
Getting the hang of through-hole soldering is tricky for those of us tinkering at home with our irons, spools, flux, and, sometimes, braids. It’s almost reassuring, then, to learn that through-hole soldering was also a pain for a firm that has made more than 60 million products with it. Raspberry Pi boards have a combination … Read more
The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), Deaf Equality, the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, and Massachusetts Senior Action Council, along with individual plaintiffs, filed a federal lawsuit today against the Social Security Administration (SSA), Acting Commissioner Leland Dudek, DOGE Acting Administrator Amy Gleason, … Read more