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Federal regulators are putting autonomous vehicle makers on notice. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it has identified a pattern of driverless cars blocking emergency responders at critical moments, and it's now demanding concrete solutions from the industry. It's a pointed reminder that self-driving technology still has a very human problem to solve.
Shifting to Europe, where a quiet revolution may be brewing in how the continent thinks about staying cool. As extreme heat becomes a reliable summer fixture, the longstanding cultural resistance to air conditioning is running up against a new generation of environmentally friendly cooling technology. The question is no longer whether Europe will adapt, but how.
And in space, of all places, a verification problem. A researcher has developed a detailed model for confirming that no government or rogue actor is secretly placing nuclear weapons in Earth's orbit. The Outer Space Treaty, drafted back in nineteen sixty six and ratified by one hundred seventeen nations, bans the practice — but until now, there was no reliable way to check. The work is a reminder that arms control only holds when someone can actually verify it.
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