Tech: Why did the Baltimore bridge collapse? A structural engineer explains

March 26–This week we're covering why Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed catastrophically, what a TikTok ban would do to keep U.S. user data safe (very little), and a new technique to make a 3D-printing ink that mimics natural wood. All that and more below! -Ben Guarino, Associate Editor, Technology

Top Stories

A Structural Engineer Explains Why the Baltimore Bridge Collapsed A large container ship "totally removed" a critical pier from Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge Ben Guarino

Banning TikTok Would Do Basically Nothing to Protect Your Data Proposed restrictions on TikTok would be "security theater" in the face of the staggering amounts of data that foreign and domestic tech companies collect Lauren Leffer

Wood Ink for 3D Printers Can Turn Old Scrap into New Parts A 3D-printing ink developed from wood waste recombines its natural components back into wooden products Payal Dhar

Building Intelligent Machines Helps Us Learn How Our Brain Works Designing machines to think like humans provides insight into intelligence itself George Musser

Can AI Replace Human Research Participants? These Scientists See Risks Several recent proposals for using AI to generate research data could save time and effort but at a cost Chris Stokel-Walker

Collaborating in Person May Spark More Innovative Research Bringing people together virtually doesn't seem to boost disruptive research Simon Makin

We Need a Public Service Internet to Free Us from Big Tech's Grasp The profit-led business models of big tech are harming democracy. We should look to the tradition of public media to help us find alternatives Helen Jay, expert writer

The Future of Driving in the U.S. Is Electric—Sort Of The EPA's final rule on car emissions will result in far fewer battery-powered electric vehicles than what the agency envisioned last year Mike Lee; Jean Chemnick; E&E News

Astronomers Fight to Save X-ray Telescope as NASA Dishes Out Budget Cuts The Chandra X-ray Observatory faces a premature end under new funding cuts proposed by NASA—and astronomers aren't happy Jonathan O'Callaghan

High-Profile Geoengineering Experiment Shuts Down A beleaguered solar geoengineering project failed to conduct field tests because of opposition from environmentalists and Indigenous residents Chelsea Harvey; E&E News

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