New York Times: The US federal government has just finished building the nation’s largest zero-energy office building—the Research Support Facility on the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory campus in Golden, Colorado. To qualify as zero-energy, a building must create as much energy as it uses over the course of a year. Besides solar panels and a low-energy radiant heating and cooling system, the building has other energy-saving features. Windows can be opened to provide ventilation, and the walls consist of a layer of insulation sandwiched between two concrete layers, which will absorb heat during the day to keep the interior cool, and then release the heat at night.
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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