BeamFS creator Aurelien Desbrieres is not calling for a merge, but is requesting feedback on an 18-patch proposal that takes the place of FTRFS, an earlier filesystem he proposed in April. The Linux/Open Source blog It's FOSS reports: Filesystems that can repair damage, like Btrfs and ZFS, usually do it by falling back on a spare copy of the data. BeamFS skips that and stores Reed-Solomon error-correcting codes inside every block. Every read gets checked against those codes, and small amounts of damage are corrected before the data reaches the application. If the filesystem can tell the damage is beyond repair, the read fails with an error instead of returning the wrong bytes... In his technical report, ext4 and ext3 returned wrong data without any error, while Btrfs refused to read the file. BeamFS returned the correct file every time except once, when a flip hit a pointer to the file's data and it refused the read. "Aurelien says he used Anthropic's Claude to write the code, the tool that checks the patches, and the cover letter..."

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Susanne Rust of the Los Angeles Times reports (paywalled) that industry executives knew for decades that microplastics were infiltrating the human body. Slashdot reader joshuark shares an excerpt from the report: Scientists today say we're just beginning to understand the harm that the tiny bits of plastic we drink, eat and breathe are doing to the human body. Internal memos among company scientists and executives obtained by The Times reveal that for at least half a century, the plastics industry has been aware of and concerned about the potential for microplastic contamination in the human body. But recently discovered chemical company documents dating back several decades show that industry scientists have long been aware of -- and concerned about -- the way microplastic particles migrate beyond the gut in animals and humans, depositing in important organs. And the potential for that knowledge to affect the plastic food packaging industry. Their concern goes back to 1974 and a scientific meeting at a New York City hotel, where a German gastroenterologist presented a scientific paper that showed for the first time that ingested particles like microplastics could infiltrate the rest of the body. His presentation was largely overlooked by the government scientists in attendance but became a point of worried discussion among company scientists. Tracey Woodruff, professor of epidemiology and population health at Stanford University, who reviewed the documents, said they indicate scientists and executives at major chemical companies have known and remained silent even as microplastics accumulated in tissues. She likened it to other industries that knew about pollutants -- greenhouse gases, asbestos and tobacco -- but did not take action to make them safer. A spokesperson with the chemical industry's largest trade group took issue with that characterization. "Scientific debate over what the evidence shows is not silence. It is how sound science and effective policy advance," said Craig Davis, senior director of plastics chemistry at the American Chemistry Council. "Our industry is committed to advancing microplastics science by supporting independent research and policies that would do so."

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Ford's upcoming $28,350 Fathom electric truck will include a built-in inverter capable of supplying up to 10 kW of AC power to a home, bringing bidirectional charging to a significantly cheaper EV. Owners will still need additional Ford home hardware for features like outage backup and peak-rate energy management, but the company expects the necessary equipment to cost substantially less than its previous-generation system. CNET reports: The upcoming Fathom will be based on what Ford calls its Universal EV Platform, designed with the aid of its 2023 acquisition, startup Auto Motive Power, with bidirectional power on the plate from the start. The hardware required to invert the battery's DC energy to an estimated 10 kW of AC home power will be built into the truck, so it won't require a separate wall-mounted inverter box. Ford says the Fathom's system will meet all applicable UL 1741 requirements and IEEE 1547 standards to ensure the vehicle is safely connected to the grid. As for the actual hardware you plug into your car, all signs point to the Fathom using the NACS plug type pioneered by Tesla and now widely adopted by new EVs in North America. In terms of the communication standard -- the one that governs how AC power is routed from the slim wall box to the car's onboard charger -- that'll be via SAE J3068, a software protocol developed for high-power, heavy-duty AC charging. [...] However, while Fathom's Universal EV Platform eliminates the need for a wall inverter box, it doesn't completely bypass the need for additional hardware to make your home ready to accept bidirectional power. Say you wanted to take advantage of the Home Power Management feature to draw energy into the Fathom's battery when power is cheapest, and then use that energy to offset peak-hour usage when power is most expensive. You'll have to install at least the Ford Home Power Station in your home, at an additional cost. The automaker hasn't specified pricing, but says that it's working to reduce costs and expects this component alone to cost half as much as the first-generation Ford Home Energy system, which debuted at around $1,300. That could put the new system at roughly $650.

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At a recent meeting of the board that oversees the National Institutes of Health's Clinical Center Research Hospital, chair Jack Leslie opened with cheerful introductions and gregarious chatter—then diverted from the agenda of the regularly scheduled meeting. He spent the next six minutes delivering a pointed rebuke of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, warning that his anti-vaccine activities could tarnish the venerable hospital, often called the "house of hope" for patients with rare conditions or those who have exhausted all other options.

Leslie took issue with a recent stunt Kennedy had pulled at the hospital, which involved making a surprise appearance for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open his signature vaccine injury clinic. The ceremony included a panel with people claiming to have been injured by vaccines. They sat behind placards reading "vaccine injured" and spoke with Kennedy and other high-ranking Trump administration officials.

Leslie prefaced his comments by noting that some might prefer he not speak out against Kennedy's efforts. "But I think that that would be a failing as an advisory board if we were silent," he said. Leslie also noted that he has no concerns about studying potential injuries from vaccines. "Serious reactions are rare, but real," he said, and people who believe they've been injured should "be taken seriously."

In fact, the NIH already has a center that studies vaccine injuries, and Kennedy's splashy new clinic does not come with more funding or clinic space. The hospital's CEO, Jonathan Green, who sat next to Leslie at the meeting, chimed in to confirm that "the NIH has conducted research on the safety and efficacy of vaccines for decades in the past, and it ongoes." Green described Kennedy's vaccine injury clinic as merely a new, individual "protocol" for the hospital.

Political ends

"The space in which this protocol will be conducted, the vaccine evaluation center inside the clinical center, has been in existence for decades," Green said. Like all protocols, it needs to undergo rigorous scientific and ethical reviews before it's implemented at the hospital. Green said the protocol is still under review.

None of this was made clear in Kennedy's ceremony, and Leslie condemned the optics of the event, particularly the signs labeling patients "vaccine injured." Those patients "must come first," Leslie said. "They deserve our care and respect and they deserve answers." But Kennedy does them—and the hospital—a disservice, Leslie argued.

"The secretary has spent two decades arguing that vaccines are dangerous," Leslie said. "Those signs announce the conclusion that the research has not yet reached and that the research exists to test. Think about what that means for those patients. If this research finds evidence of harm, many will dismiss it as the work of a secretary who has long argued that vaccines are dangerous. If it finds none, patients will be told that the clinic was a sham. Either way, they're left with answers no one trusts, and science only helps patients when the public believes it."

Leslie said he feared that the stunt sends a political message that will undermine trust that the hospital has worked to earn and maintain for over 70 years.

"The clinical center standing rests on one thing: the confidence of patients, physicians, and the public that the research done here is designed to find the truth, not to confirm a conclusion reached in advance," he said. "Trust is slow to build and quick to lose. If people come to believe that research at this hospital can be steered toward a politically desired answer, the damage will not stop at vaccines."

After Leslie's statement, another member thanked him and made a motion for the board to support the statement. The motion was quickly seconded and, in a voice vote, the board unanimously endorsed the comments.

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US regulators have issued a warning to a nuclear project critical to Donald Trump’s efforts to revive the industry, after a contractor fell into a reactor cavity and a bundle of fuel rods nearly tipped over during refuelling.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission told Holtec International, a company racing to reopen a shuttered reactor at the Palisades nuclear power plant in Michigan, to address a “chilled work environment” that has made staff hesitant to raise safety concerns without fear of retaliation.

The warning has prompted concerns among critics that financial and political pressures to revitalise nuclear power as an answer to booming AI-driven energy demand are increasing risks of accidents.

The NRC performed an inspection at Palisades in July over concerns about safety awareness. It followed an incident last year in which a worker fell into the reactor cavity, ingested some water and was sent off-site for medical attention. The individual was decontaminated by radiation protection personnel but had 300 counts per minute detected in their hair, according to an incident report.

In a second incident in August, a bundle of nuclear fuel rods tilted over during a refuelling operation, delaying what was anticipated to be the first reopening of a shuttered nuclear reactor in the US.

The NRC also said nine of the 15 reactor operators at Palisades failed the test for an initial licence examination administered in July and August. Six individuals were issued operator licences.

Holtec, which has never operated a nuclear power plant, has secured about $2.2 billion in government support for a project that has been touted as a symbol of US nuclear resurgence. The owners of two other nuclear plants slated for decommissioning—Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania and Duane Arnold in Iowa—announced restarts soon after Palisades began work.

The Trump administration has promoted nuclear energy as an edge in the AI race against China. It has slashed regulation, provided tens of billions of dollars in funds and promised to reverse a culture of “risk aversion” at the NRC to accelerate projects.

The warning issued to Holtec by the NRC last week landed as investor interest in the nuclear sector has faded, driven by concerns the AI boom is slowing.

More than $30 billion has been wiped off the value of five of the largest US-listed nuclear energy companies in the last year—Oklo, Centrus Energy, BWX Technologies, NuScale and Nano Nuclear. Last month, Holtec was forced to postpone a planned initial public offering that was expected to raise $900 million and value the New Jersey-based company at up to $10 billion.

Palisades first became operational in 1971. It was decommissioned in 2022 but received a $1.5 billion loan from the Department of Energy in 2024 to finance its restoration.

“The situation at Palisades is that you have a power plant operator newbie in Holtec trying to restart a nuclear reactor, and they may be under a lot of financial and political pressure to get this done speedily,” said Allison Macfarlane, who served as NRC chair from 2012 to 2014.

“The ‘chilled work environment’ warning issued by the NRC raises concerns that staff don’t feel like they can speak up to raise safety concerns and prevent accidents,” she added. “That perhaps reflects the new culture sweeping through part of the industry—move fast and break things. But to ensure safety, nuclear needs a culture based on going slowly and carefully.”

Holtec faces a March 2027 contractual deadline to begin supplying power to customers, who secured an extra $1.3 billion in government funds to buy power from Palisades.

In a statement to the FT, Holtec said it took the issues identified by the NRC seriously and was addressing them to ensure the plant runs safely. It said the fuel assembly that tilted over was successfully recovered without spilling in a “remarkable demonstration of technical ingenuity.”

“A strong safety-conscious work environment is fundamental to our culture,” the company said. “The assertion that we have rushed has directly been countered by the work that has been accomplished.”

The NRC told Holtec its concerns about workplace culture must be addressed promptly to prevent further “cultural decline” within the affected departments. NRC has asked Holtec to correct the problems and will review the company’s plan within 30 days.

However, the NRC downplayed any immediate risk to the public, saying mitigating measures ensured plant safety was not compromised. Holtec said the worker who fell into the reactor cavity last year had sustained minor injuries from the fall but quickly returned to work.

Holtec, which is trying to transform itself from a supplier of nuclear components and services into a reactor design and plant operator, has faced governance questions in the past. It has been the target of a whistleblower lawsuit and legal disputes involving former executives, relating to allegations of financial misrepresentation, executive retaliation and fraudulent practices.

Kris Singh, founder and chief executive of Holtec, rejected the claims in a prior interview with the FT.

© 2026 The Financial Times Ltd. All rights reserved Not to be redistributed, copied, or modified in any way.

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A 25-year-old German experimental photographer has won the 2026 Nikon Small World photomicrography competition with a striking image of droplets of ink being deposited on paper by an inkjet printer. Ole Bielfeldt beat out 1,802 other entries hailing from 69 different countries.

Bielfeldt became interested in photomicrography during the COVID-19 lockdown after discovering an old microscope in his parents' attic. He figured out how to build an adaptor out of a tube and some wood to connect the microscope to his father's camera and taught himself the art through trial and error, building custom tools as needed. He documents how he captures transformative images of everyday objects with behind-the-scenes videos posted to macrofying, his photography and videography brand.

It was Bielfeldt's curiosity about the inner workings of inkjet printers that inspired his winning entry, but capturing the action of ink drops being deposited on paper was a challenge, given that the process happens so quickly. The droplets, for instance, moved faster than the camera's shutter speed. Bielfeldt's solution was to deconstruct the printer so that the paper moved under a stationary (rather than moving) printhead, and then take the image in a dark room, using a flash to serve as the shutter, thereby freezing the ink drops mid-air. There was no need for pricey equipment. Bielfeldt does not use AI in his images, preferring to rely on traditional techniques.

"Ole Bielfeldt's winning image embodies what makes Nikon Small World so powerful: the intersection of microscope imaging, ingenuity, and artistry," said Eric Flem, a spokesperson for Nikon Instruments. "By using a microscope objective in a different way, he transformed a familiar object into something altogether new and previously unseen. It is a reminder that the microscope is not only a scientific tool but also a creative one, capable of expanding how we see and imagine the world around us."

Founded in 1974, the Nikon Small World competition celebrates its 52nd anniversary this year. In 2011, the company added the Small World in Motion competition (see the 2026 winner here). Both are meant “to showcase the beauty and complexity of things seen through the light microscope”—one through still photographs, the other through photovideography, taking advantage of all the technological advances that now allow users to make movies or time-lapse images through the microscope.

Here are the top 10 winners of this year's competition; the full list, with honorable mentions, can be found here. Nikon is also producing a full-color 2027 calendar featuring the 2026 winners.

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