A new type of AI model

 This company is commercializing a promising new AI concept, that could lower compute requirements, or equivalently produce more insightful responses at a given computational cost:

https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/26/inception-emerges-from-stealth-with-a-new-type-of-ai-model/

Is LANL getting rid of web pages?

 Weird stuff going on in LANL. They are getting getting rid of web pages, also rumors are that Doge is showing up to look around. Other rumors. The just got rid of bunch of postdocs and some staff. More and more countries are on the bad list.

No more EVs and charging stations at GSA

 US Agency Reportedly Plans to Shut Down 8,000 EV Chargers, Offload EVs

https://www.pcmag.com/news/general-services-administration-shuts-down-8000-ev-chargers-offloads-evs

Note: lab vehicles are leased from the GSA, but I'm not sure if buildings are owned by GSA or DOE directly. However it seems many lab electric vehicles will be either recalled or more likely not renewed with EVs once their lease is up.

The General Services Administration (GSA), an agency that manages the federal government’s buildings, is planning to shut down all 8,000 of its electric vehicle chargers, The Verge reports.

The GSA is also expected to offload its current stock of EVs, though it's unknown if the vehicles will be sold or put into storage. The agency will reportedly begin instructing employees to remove the chargers—which are used for both federally owned EVs and employees' personal vehicles—as early as next week.

The agency informed employees at one regional office that, in its efforts "to align with the current administration," it had received direction stating that all GSA-owned charging stations "are not mission-critical," according to an email first reported by Colorado Public Radio.

“The GSA is working on the timing of canceling current network contracts that keep the EV chargers operational. Once those contracts are canceled, the stations will be taken out of service and ‘turned off at the breaker,’” the email continued. “Other chargers will be turned off starting next week.”

The web page dedicated to the electrification of the GSA's fleet has also been taken offline, The Verge notes.

The GSA had been rapidly electrifying its fleet following the Biden administration's 2021 executive order that calls for 100% of all federal fleet purchases to be zero-emission by 2035.

The news comes amid broader cuts to plans for a nationwide EV charging networks and measures to block the federal government from buying more electric vehicles.

Postdoc Publications

 The LANL fellows did a study of the declining number publications at the lab. This also showed the decline of publications of the postdocs.

Now and new publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that postdoc publications in terms of number of papers and impact is associated with the long term success in science.

https://physics.aps.org/articles/v18/34?utm_campaign=weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_source=emailalert

For many researchers, the postdoctoral fellowship is a way station between graduate school and a permanent job. Now Bedoor AlShebli of New York University, Petter Holme of Aalto University in Finland, and their collaborators have revealed that, despite the position’s transience, the quantity and quality of a researcher’s postdoc publications are a strong predictor of whether the researcher stays in academia and, if they do, how productive the researcher will be as a faculty member [1]. The findings have implications for faculty hiring and postdoc welfare, say AlShebli and Holme.

Breakthrough in quantum computer technology: ret

 Microsoft claims breakthrough in quantum computer technology:

https://youtu.be/wSHmygPQukQ?si=6Eknzl4z4h7OdWc9

https://phys.org/news/2025-02-topological-quantum-processor-majorana-modes.html

2/23/2025 1:31 PM

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Will Federal Contractors have to do the same?

 Will Federal Contractors have to do the same?

Elon Musk says federal employees must fill out (weekly?) productivity reports or resign

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/elon-musk-federal-employees-fill-out-productivity-reports-resign

Asteroid news

 The asteroid threat for the 2032 impact has been downgraded in probability:

https://www.livescience.com/space/asteroids/asteroid-yr4-impact-odds-plummet-as-nasa-changes-threat-level-of-city-killer

https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/sentry/