Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: After years of investment, South Africa has abandoned its plan to develop a fleet of electricity-generating pebble bed modular reactors (PBMR), once hyped as the future of nuclear power.Problems with the PBMR aren’t new; a 2008 German report chronicles Germany’s own problems developing the reactor since 1967.China, the only other country still developing PBMR-based power reactor designs, has taken a slower approach, and it is unclear if they have run into problems as well.
The finding that the Saturnian moon may host layers of icy slush instead of a global ocean could change how planetary scientists think about other icy moons as well.
Modeling the shapes of tree branches, neurons, and blood vessels is a thorny problem, but researchers have just discovered that much of the math has already been done.
January 29, 2026 12:52 PM
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