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  • 🛫 New whistleblower accuses Boeing of using bad parts in 737 Max planes, fossil reveals 246-million-year-old reptile that dominated super-ocean, AI helps detect Parkinson’s with 100% accuracy

🛫 New whistleblower accuses Boeing of using bad parts in 737 Max planes, fossil reveals 246-million-year-old reptile that dominated super-ocean, AI helps detect Parkinson’s with 100% accuracy

Plus: A 3D-printed vacuum chamber that 'traps' dark matter


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Adding to the already huge pile of Boeing’s woes, a new whistleblower has alleged that the airliner lost tracks of damaged parts or those that were not up to the specification, and these “parts are likely being installed on airplanes.”

The allegations were released right ahead of Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun’s hearing before the Senate panel on Tuesday.

Calhoun is scheduled to face questions from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. For more on this development, check out today’s Must-Read.

🔥Today’s job of the day as featured on jobs.interestingengineering.com:

> Principal Software Engineer, Platform
> Sr. Specialist Network Engineer

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MUST READ

🛫 New whistleblower accuses Boeing of using bad parts in 737 Max planes

The subcommittee released claims of whistleblower Sam Mohawk, a quality assurance investigator at Boeing, on Tuesday. Mohawk has stated that Boeing tried to hide the parts that were not up to the mark from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) by falsifying records, according to a report by CNN.

As per the report, the whistleblower goes on to mention that the company likely ended up losing track of the nonconforming parts, and they were installed in some planes.

According to another report by CNBC, the parts on which questions have been raised were in Boeing’s Renton plant in Washington. The plant makes the company’s famed 737 Max plane.

🦕 Fossil reveals 246-million-year-old reptile that dominated super-ocean

A 246 million-year-old fossil of a polar sea reptile has been discovered on New Zealand’s South Island.

An international team of researchers led by Uppsala University studied the fossilized bone, which was recovered from a streambed at the foot of Mount Harper on the South Island of New Zealand.

The extinct creature belonged to the genus Nothosaur. Interestingly, this is identified as the oldest sea-going reptile, some 40 million years older than anything previously discovered in the Southern Hemisphere.

🧠 AI helps detect Parkinson’s with 100% accuracy 7 years before symptoms

Researchers from UCL and University Medical Center Goettingen have developed a blood test that utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) to predict Parkinson’s disease up to seven years before symptoms show up.

Parkinson’s disease, a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by tremors, stiffness, and slowness of movement, is the fastest-growing neurological condition globally. Diagnosing it early has been a challenge, but a new study brings promising news.

“As new therapies become available,” says Professor Kevin Mills, a senior author of the study, “we need to diagnose patients before they develop symptoms. We cannot regrow brain cells, so protecting existing ones is crucial.”

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HOT TOPICS OF THE DAY

SCIENCE

> Researchers from Caltech uncovered an ancient genetic toolkit that equips rove beetles—the largest family in the entire animal kingdom, with 66,000 members—with powerful chemical defenses in their tergal gland. (More)

> A quasar from just 760 million years after the Big Bang challenges the theory about the formation of supermassive black holes in the early universe. (More)

> The relationship between mother and child may offer clues to the mystery of why humans live longer than expected for their size—and shed new light on what it means to be human—according to a new study. (More)

ENERGY

> In a push toward a more sustainable future, Nordex SE, one of Germany’s top wind turbine makers, has built the prototype of its 500kW pressurized alkaline electrolyzer. (More)

> Engineers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are using robots to improve the consistency of wind turbine blades. (More)

> The FiR1 nuclear reactor, which operated for over fifty years in Espoo, Finland, has been decommissioned in collaboration with Fortum. This challenging project addressed numerous concrete issues. (More)

INNOVATION

> The University of Nottingham researchers have created a unique 3D-printed vacuum chamber to “trap” dark matter. (More)

> Researchers have developed an imager chip inspired by Superman’s X-ray vision that might be used in mobile devices to identify objects behind walls or within packages. (More)

> Researchers have discovered a new type of powder for dusting fingerprints. It allowed them to image their nanoscale details more clearly while deepening the contrast between ridges and valleys. (More)

VIDEO

> Crash testing is a key safety requirement in automotive manufacturing. But what does it involve? (More)

> Shooting a movie in the lab requires special equipment. Especially when the actors are molecules—invisible to the naked eye—reacting with each other. (More)

IE QUIZ: THE RESULTS

In yesterday’s quiz, we asked, If the small plunger is forced down by 10 units, how far will the larger plunger move?

The answer is: C

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FROM THE WEB

> The vinyl of Coldplay's new album is made of river plastic

> A cloud forest in northern Ecuador is protected from deforestation and mining after being recognised as an entity possessing legal personhood

> Marine CO₂ removal technologies could depend on the appetite of the ocean’s tiniest animals

> New research finds most of the world’s largest marine protected areas have inadequate protections

> AI could help spread false and misleading information on Holocaust, UNESCO report warns

> A study has yielded the first direct proof of the consumption and processing of dairy products in the Pyrenees already at the start of the Neolithic period

Additional Reads


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🎬 IE Originals: Weekly round-up of our best science, tech & engineering videos.

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Electrical: From AI to smart grids, our newsletter energizes you on emerging tech.

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